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InvestigatesCreamed OffOVER €250,000 IN public funds have been used to help Irish dairy giants push products in West Africa that are ‘putting its small scale farmers out of business’.
That is according to a new investigation with DeSmog and Nigerian news outlet Premium Times on the impact of Ireland’s booming fat-filled milk powder (FFMP) industry.
The team can also reveal that certain brands are targeting advertising at Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal’s parents, claiming the product is good for their children.
It follows an investigation last year by The Journal Investigates and Premium Times exposing how large volumes of the cheap substitute ‘milk’ was being exported to West Africa, outcompeting local milk on price.
Fat-filled milk powder is made by spray-drying skimmed milk combined with vegetable fats like palm or coconut oil because its dairy fats were removed to make more profitable products like butter.
It cannot be sold in the EU as ‘milk’ because of the addition of palm or vegetable oil – with the vast majority shipped outside of Europe.
While countries like the Netherlands, Germany, France and Poland also export FFMP, Ireland is by far the biggest player, exporting 30% of the EU’s FFMP.
Lakeland Dairies, Tirlán and Ornua, which had a combined turnover of €7.8bn in 2024, were the top exporters of FFMP to Nigeria and Ghana from 2021 to 2024 according to Volza export-import trade data. None of three companies responded to the team’s requests for comment.
Little known in Ireland, fat-filled milk powder is the State’s largest (by volume) dairy export, and its fourth most valuable – worth €813 million last year.
But its success continues to come at a cost for farmers in countries in West Africa, including Nigeria.
Ireland’s food and drink authority Bord Bia helped promote the product in these countries with a €170,745 taxpayer-funded 2023 trade mission and €82,500 on joint campaigns with Ornua for World Milk Day from 2021 to 2024.
A number of other Irish products, including full-fat milk powder, were also promoted at these events.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) said that this “was the first agri-food Ministerial Trade Mission to the West Africa region since 2015″.
It included “government-to-government meetings and Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland engagements with leading customers for Irish agri-food and agri-tech”.
“Meetings also took place with UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and UN World Food Programme in relation to food security and humanitarian needs in the region.”
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The World Milk Day campaign promoted Ornua’s FFMP product Kerrygold Avantage, alongside its full-cream milk powder which is made of full-fat milk.
Details of this campaign, released following an Oireachtas question, included partnerships with social media influencers as well as making food and drinks with Kerrygold Avantage FFMP.
A Bord Bia spokesperson told the investigative team that “the campaigns were implemented across digital media channels (X and Instagram) incorporating promotion partnership with people or groups who have a significant following on social media”.
Documents obtained from Bord Bia through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests highlight how market research demonstrated that the dairy industry could be selling lactose-high products to “lactose intolerant” young people in Nigeria.
The FOI documents also show how executives from Ireland’s Lakeland Dairies, Tirlán and Ornua attended a slideshow presentation as part of the mission to “increase knowledge of Irish dairy” in Nigeria and Senegal.
While parts of the slideshow have been redacted, it reads “the consumption of milk among young adults is low” adding “many of them are lactose intolerant” in Nigeria.
Fat-filled milk powder contains up to 37% lactose and intolerance to it can cause bloating, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.
“It’s a common health issue in the country,” said Nigerian nutrition specialist Auwalu Aliyu.
Market research commissioned by Bord Bia also showed that most consumers are unaware of the differences between whole milk powder and FFMP – an issue previously reported by The Journal Investigates.
In relation to the promotion of FFMP, a DAFM spokesperson said that “the placement of product on the market is a commercial decision for companies to make in accordance with the applicable legislation and market demand”.
“While promotional campaigns are an operational matter for Bord Bia, they have advised that their activities promoting Irish dairy to international customers are not typically product specific.”
Companies involved in the trade mission also enjoyed privileged access to key market players in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria and Dakar in Senegal with attendees asked if they “would be interested in a ministerial Top to Top meeting with [their] customer”.
Bord Bia said it held a number of government-to-government meetings during the visit, while Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland held engagements with “leading customers for Irish agri-food and agri-tech”.
“Branded milk powder is clearly the consumers’ choice,” notes one slide. Another reveals nearly all Nigerian shoppers buy branded milk powder – up from 84% in 2017 to 99% in 2023.
A further line crossed out in the document noted “the importance of brands and brand-building in Nigeria, even among lower social classes”.
Separately, Bord Bia has said that there is “difficulty in differentiating high and low quality FFMP” and that “having more branded products with information on provenance and specifications can support the differentiation of our quality product”.
The same presentation notes that West Africa’s increasing population is a driving factor for growth in FFMP imports – summarised in the slideshow as “more mouths to feed”. Urbanisation was equated to “easier to access mouths”.
Cheaper than fresh milk, FFMP has a longer shelf life and is marketed as a “good” source of protein. It is used as a milk substitute, tea and coffee ‘creamer’ and a base for yoghurts, drinks and desserts.
Perceptions of the product as healthy and sustainable are carefully crafted in West Africa, where consumers are targeted through social media, billboards, TV and in-person campaigns.
Analysis of hundreds of Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok posts from 2022 to 2024, found brands frequently make claims about the health benefits and environmental impacts of their products.
Kerrygold Nigeria promotes its products as sustainable, claiming on X that its dairy “reduces its environmental footprint, while also providing nutritious foods and livelihoods around the world”.
It also claimed that Kerrygold Avantage Milk guarantees “rich creamy goodness”. Ornua, who makes this, did not respond to the investigative team’s queries.
However, Barry Newman, the then regional head for Ornua North & Central Africa, addressed sustainability at the launch of Kerrygold Avantage FFMP in Nigeria in 2019.
He said that Kerrygold Avantage was “always going to be sourced on the island of Ireland which has a long long history of milk production”. He also said that the company was proud that “the palm oil that is used in Kerrygold will be from responsibly sourced palm oil producers which constitutes 20% of the world’s palm oil production”.
A DAFM spokesperson did say that “Ireland’s carbon footprint per unit of milk produced is one of the lowest amongst milk-producing countries due to our grass-based production system” but did not provide any links to research which supports that statement.
Miksi, a major fat-filled milk powder brand partly supplied by Ireland’s Lakeland Dairies, said on Facebook it “contains all the calcium, proteins and vitamins essential for the proper development of growing children”.
Though Lakeland Dairies is not the ultimate seller of Miksi in Nigeria, it is listed on Volza export data as shipping milk powder containing vegetable fats and oils under the Miksi brand name.
On it’s website, Lakeland Dairies states that its fat-filled milk powder is “a staple in global markets due to its quality, consistency, flavour and functionality”.
Tirlán, who claims to be the largest producer of FFMP in Europe, states online that its product “is designed to offer an affordable alternative source of dairy nutrition without compromising on taste and texture”.
While some experts told the investigative team there has been little research on the nutritional qualities of FFMP and “zero health outcome data”, the product was celebrated as “a fabulous success story for Irish farmers” at a May symposium on milk drying technology in Cork.
“A lot of the public just see butter and cheese and think, that’s the dairy industry,” director of Dairy Industry Ireland, Conor Mulvihill, said at the conference. He added:
We are no longer a dairy industry, we’re a nutrition industry.
“There’s a huge demand for Irish butter… which means we have a lot of grass based protein powders that then can be shipped at ambient temperatures around the world.”
We asked dairy experts at the event about the nutritional impact of replacing milk fat with vegetable oils to make FFMP. The Irish and US panellists stayed silent while Gert Hols from Danone in the Netherlands said: “There is research happening.”
Dr Emma Feeney, an assistant professor at University College Dublin’s School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, said it’s “almost a bit of a black box – there isn’t a huge pile of work on the nutritional side of it”.
Dr Shireen Kassam, a haematologist and honorary senior lecturer at King’s College Hospital, said: “We have absolutely zero health outcome data for this product.”
EU regulations state that fat-filled milk powder should contain at least 23% protein and a maximum of 30% fat.
Packaging analysed by this investigation showed Miksi FFMP sold in Nigeria contains only 10% protein and 35% fat, while Kerrygold Avantage met the requirements.
Farmers in the region told The Journal Investigates last year that it was cheaper to import milk than buy it locally. That continues to be a problem.
“The FFMP exported to West Africa is putting African farmers out of business, while simultaneously driving up Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions,” Paul Murphy TD told the investigative team.
Aliyu Ilu, chief executive of five-acre Little Acres dairy farm in Abuja, Nigeria said they “struggle with several things”.
“These range from electricity to transportation to the high cost of feed for the cattle” as well as the lack of security, climate complications, infrastructure issues and little government funding.
Meanwhile in Ireland, where the Environmental Protection Agency continuously highlights how agricultural intensification is impacting waterways and risking government climate targets, dairy is heavily subsidised through Common Agricultural Policy.
Bord Bia – and Ireland’s dairy industry – routinely claim Irish dairy production is sustainable and has one of the lowest carbon footprints in Europe due to “grass-based production”.
Dr Elaine McGoff, head of advocacy for Ireland’s National Trust An Taisce said this oft cited claim is “based largely on old, outdated data” with a study claiming that, later debunked.
Researchers instead found “Ireland had the fourth highest emissions in Europe for dairy production”.
She added: “The intensification of agriculture, particularly dairy expansion, over the last decade is driving all of our environmental indicators off a cliff.”
But not all Irish farmers consider intensive farming a “success story”.
“The problem is that the dairy production that we have a lot of, is far beyond what the capacity of the ecosystems can carry in terms of water, in terms of energy,” said Fergal Anderson, vegetable farmer and member of Ireland’s grassroots farmers group Talamh Beo. He added:
“I think most farmers wouldn’t be happy to think that FFMP is where their milk ends up… that it’s actually undermining a farm family somewhere else.”
Reporters: Shauna Corr, Brigitte Wear, Phoebe Cooke and Beloved John • Investigation Partners: DeSmog and Premium Times • Main Image Design: Lorcan O’Reilly
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