With BaxterStorey committing to net zero emissions as part of the UN’s Race 2 Zero, over 14 of the caterer’s workplace restaurants in public institutions across central Scotland have signed up to use the milk in their barista coffees, including Glasgow Caledonian University. All the milk is delivered by electric vehicles and there is a zero waste packaging policy.
The herd of 45 Ayrshire cows are milked once a day and the calves stay with their mothers until they start eating grass and herbal lays. The focus is on the highest standards of animal welfare, boosting biodiversity and producing a premium product, which is high in demand.
Greg Bramwell, director of food at BaxterStorey, said: “It’s so important for us to know where our produce comes from. All the way down the chain, is that love and care and it’s not surprising that the product’s great and the sustainability message is where you want it to be.
“Customers, with their hard earned money, want to pay for authentic food stories and to be connected to their local communities again. Our baristas also want the best milk to make the best coffees. We’d love all the coffees made in Scotland to be with milk from Mossgiel.”
Last year Mossgiel secured a ‘landmark’ contract with East Ayrshire Council to supply organic milk to the authority’s 40 primary schools and 36 early childhood centres.
Bryce Cunningham, owner of Mossgiel Organic, added: “We began working with BaxterStorey in 2020, with an exciting opportunity to collaborate with people dedicated to provenance and quality in areas of hospitality you may not always immediately expect.
“To work together in this way, supplying Mossgiel Organic Milk to more and more people and places than ever before, just shows how the power of collaboration to reduce emissions and waste while boosting our local economy can benefit everyone, from grass to glass.”
The Eating Better alliance believes this is the direction all public sector institutions should be heading, supporting sustainable and better dairy production. Eating Better is calling for direct models of procurement to be scaled up across the UK.
Simon Billing, executive director at Eating Better, commented: “Mossgiel is incredibly exciting because they’re doing things better: better animal welfare, zero waste packing, low carbon, cleaner deliveries.
“This is sought after by East Ayrshire, the local authority and now by a large commercial company, BaxterStorey, which is using organic milk from a small, local producer in its workplace restaurants in public institutions across Scotland’s central belt. This is scalable and where we should be heading to normalise sustainable produce in the public sector.”
A short film on the partnership between Mossgiel and BaxterStorey can be viewed here.