FAQs

This might come as a shock to you… but we all need vitamins and minerals for our health and well-being. Just kidding, of course you know all this! But it’s not always easy to reach that daily dose, that’s why our Alpro products are enriched with the essentials depending on the recipe. Calcium, vitamins B2, B12, E, C and D, iron and iodine are added to help you meet your daily requirements. You’re welcome!

Here’s a list of our vitamins & minerals:

• Calcium - We use different types of calcium depending on the product: tri-calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, tri-calcium citrate.

• Vitamins B2 and B12 – we add these (plus calcium) to ensure that you get the nutrients you need.

• Vitamin E – when we process nuts for our drinks, for example, some vitamin E gets lost so we add this to bring the levels back up.

• Vitamin D – many people across Europe are missing out on their daily Vitamin D requirement, vital for the absorption of calcium. We’ve got that one covered. 

• Vitamin C, Iron, Iodine – These are important minerals and vitamins included within the Alpro Growing Up Drink (1-3+) that children need for a healthy start in life.

Mind you, you won’t find these minerals and vitamins in the ingredients list on any of our organic products, though, simply because organic legislation doesn’t allow it. 

We like it smooth, and we’re pretty sure you do too, right? Emulsifiers enable water and oils to come together in an emulsion and stay that way. This helps, for example, to prevent the separation of our (oily) almonds and water. They keep our drinks flowing, make our plant-based alternative to cream taste deliciously smooth and our ice cream melt in the mouth. Naturally, all the emulsifiers we use are 100% plant-based.

We use these smooth operators to keep things nicely blended:

• Lecithins – naturally occurring in every living cell, we use sunflower seeds to make ours.

• Mono - and diglycerides of fatty acids – derived from plant oils.

• Sucrose esters of fatty acids – created from combining sugar and fatty acids derived from plant oils

• Lactic acid esters of mono - and diglycerides of fatty acids – derived from plant-based oils.

Of course, taste is key, but sometimes it’s not just about taste. Ice cream needs to be velvety, drinks should slide down smoothly, desserts have to hug the spoon and linger in the mouth. (Mmm, just saying this out loud makes us want to dig in…)

Basically, we want our foods to taste as good as at the moment we made them. That’s where stabilisers and thickeners come in, helping our drinks stay mixed up just right and our desserts stay deliciously thick, every time you take them out of the fridge.

You may find any of these stabilisers and thickeners in our drinks, plant-based alternatives to yogurt, ice cream and desserts, so say hi to these little helpers:

• Guar gum – polysaccharide/fibre derived from guar seeds

• Pectins –a polysaccharide/fibre found in nearly all fruits, especially apples, quinces and oranges

• Locust bean gum – polysaccharide/fibre made from Mediterranean grown carob beans

• Xanthan gum – a thickener and stabilizer naturally fermented from simple sugars

• Gellan gum – a polysaccharide/fibre naturally fermented from a carbohydrate

• Carrageenan – a thickening fibre extracted from seaweed

• Agar-agar – a gel-like substance extracted from seaweed

It is said that we eat with our eyes so we want all our foods to look inviting and delicious! So we add a few drops of (natural) colourings or food extracts (beetroot, carrot, …) to restore any colour lost in cooking or to add a little extra zing to your dessert. Since no Monet or Picasso could ever top Mother Nature’s paint pot, it goes without saying our Alpro paint palette is made up entirely of colours from natural plant-based foods.

Meet our colourful friends:

• Anthocyanins – a red plant-based colourant present in most fruits and flowers.

• Carotenes – a yellow/orange colour derived from plants, especially carrots.

• Curcumin – a yellow/orange colour from turmeric.

• Annatto – a red colour from the vibrant seeds of achiote tree.

• Paprika extract – a dark red colour from sweet peppers, Capsicum Annum.

Fibre is an essential part of our daily diet, but did you know that most of us don't reach the recommended daily amount of 30g? Since the original fragile oat fibres get lost in creating our oat products, we add fibres afterwards to bring the levels back up. Like this, our Oat Drink helps you increase your daily intake of fibre. Plus the corn fibre in our ice cream also helps give it a luxurious smooth texture.

Say hello to our fibre friends:

• Chicory root fibre – naturally derived from chicory roots.

• Agave fibre – from agave plants.

• Soluble corn fibre – derived from maize.

Always check the expiration date on the pack and keep our products refrigerated after opening. If the product is passed its expiration date or the product has been stored outside the fridge the product might be affected. The product is gone off if it changes in structure (thicker and/or clotted) and smells and/or tastes sour.

No, we advise you to not use our products after their expiration date. After the expiration date we cannot guarantee the same high quality standard of our products.

Before opening, store our unrefrigerated products in a cool dark place outside the refrigerator. Our fresh products should be stored in the fridge before opening at max 7°C until their expiration date. After opening, store all products – including the long lasting products – in the fridge at max 7°C and consume within 5 days.

Yes, if our products are used in a recipe, your meal can easily be stored in the freezer as long as you stick to the general freezing guidelines, for example, try our frozen strawberry recipe! If our products are not incorporated in a recipe, we do not recommend freezing them. Although freezing doesn’t affect the safety, or nutritional value of the product in any way, we cannot guarantee the same high quality standard in taste and texture after unfreezing the product.

Some of our products are treated with ultra high temperature (UHT) to increase the shelf life. All nutritional elements are untouched, but bacteria is eliminated to make the products preservable until opening. On the pack, you can check the expiration date to see how long the product can be stored and also the way our product needs to be kept.

Good question. At first glance, you’d have thought that glass was the ultimate sustainable, infinitely recyclable solution for our drinks. We thought so too, until we looked a little closer.

The fact is, the negative impacts far outweigh the positives. Here’s why:

• Glass uses a ton of energy to make first time. Plus, a particular pure type of sand which is non-renewable. Who knew? 

• Glass is heavy so transporting it takes more fuel, whether it’s delivering new bottles, carrying our drinks to store, or moving it around to reuse or recycle.

• Glass is energy hungry to recycle, because of the super-high temperature needed to melt it.

• Glass guzzles gallons of water and chemicals if you want to clean it for reuse.

• Glass doesn’t do the job because it’s transparent, and like a lot of foods, our drinks need to be kept away from light to stay fresh.

So we did the sustainability math and decided that recyclable plastics are the way to go. As long as they’re lightweight and made from recycled or plant-based materials, naturally.

Straws. Thanks for asking. Our packs still use them, but here’s the good news: ours are made of polypropylene, which is recyclable. However - they are so small that they often fall out of the system and land somewhere they shouldn’t. So just make sure you push the straw back into the carton and it won’t get lost along the way.

But even one single straw on the forest floor or in the ocean is one too many. We know that ultimately, we are responsible. So we’re working hard with our suppliers to create plant-based, compostable straws or packs that don’t even need straws at all. We’ll get it done by 2021. Watch this space.

Plant-based plastics are made from renewable resources instead of non-renewable petroleum based resources. These renewable resources can include corn, potatoes, rice, soy, sugarcane, wheat, and vegetable oil. While plant-based materials can be biodegradable or compostable, not all of them are. And, not all biodegradable plastics are plant-based.

In our new packaging we’ll be using plant-based polyethylene made from bioethanol derived from sugarcane. This material is not biodegradable, it does not compost or dissolve in nature. But it is recyclable!

Hey. It’s us. We’re real tree huggers at heart. So naturally we love the Forest Stewardship Council® and everything it stands for. We’re already using recycled paper wherever we can. And if there’s a good reason why we can’t (such as food hygiene or safety), by 2020 any brand-new fibres will come from certified sources, with FSC at the top of our list.

 A few little facts about our paper and card that make us happy:

• 100% of the cardboard we use right now in our Tetra Bricks is FSC certified and recyclable.

• The outer sleeves on Provamel 500g PBAY are already made of recycled paper and those on our Alpro branded packs will be, very soon.

• Most of our trays and outer sleeves are made of recycled cardboard. 

The short answer is, some are, some aren’t. Plastics from plants (not petroleum) are just one way we’re working hard to cut our carbon footprint down a couple of sizes. The plant-based plastic we use comes from sugar cane and like many other plant-based plastics, it’s not compostable. But it is recyclable!

Alpro calcium enriched soya products are nutritionally equivalent to dairy products because they contain high quality protein. Alpro is guaranteed lactose and dairy free, and with many of our products containing similar levels of calcium and vitamins to dairy products you can confidently use them in tea, coffee, on cereal and in all your favorite recipes. For some easy, inspiring and tasty treats please have a look at our recipes page.

Yes. Alpro can confidently be used in the kitchen – there are many books available with recipes that use soya, plus we have a few easy, inspiring tasty recipes of our own on our recipes page. Cooking with Alpro has never been so easy!

Absolutely! You can use your delicious range of Alpro plant-based drinks in your favourite recipes. Looking for some inspiration? Why not check out the Recipe Inspiration pages of our website for our favourite dishes.

Alpro® Coconut Drink can be used just like dairy milk or other plant-based alternatives to milk: as a refreshing drink, over cereal, in recipes, etc. Alpro Coconut Drink is not an equivalent to milk or soya drinks because the protein content is lower. Using Alpro® Coconut Drink gives a new twist to your favourite. 

Due to the difference in composition between the fruit layer on the bottom and the soya top layer in the pack, it might occur that the top layer slightly discolours. This is very natural and doesn’t affect the taste or texture at all.

Alpro Go On is not developed to be included in special diets, but it fits in to a healthy balanced diet. Consult a health care professional before you take up a special high protein diet or specific diet for sport purposes.

The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein in adults is 0.8 g/kg body weight per day. For children the amount is about 0.9 g/kg per day. For a person of 65 kg the recommended dietary allowance is about 52 gram/day.

The difference between Alpro Go On and our other soya alternatives to yogurt is that Alpro Go On is an alternative to strained yogurt instead of an alternative to standard yogurt. It is a product with a firmer consistency and thicker texture with an enjoyable taste thanks to its higher amount of soya proteins. 

In contrast to many other plant-based protein sources, soya is a source of high quality plant-based protein. The composition of protein in soya is excellent and provides all the essential amino acids needed in a healthy diet. This is especially important for the essential amino acids, which cannot be made by the body and must be obtained by eating protein in a healthy diet. A varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle are recommended for good health.

Our cashew drink is 100% plant-based, naturally lactose free and low in sugars and fat. It is also a source of calcium, vitamin B2, B12, D and E. The cashew drink can be part of a varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.

Alpro® Cashew Original is made from unroasted cashew nuts, which naturally have a slightly grey colour. Since we do not add any artificial colouring, preservatives, or artificial sweeteners to our products, the drink subsequently has this natural slightly grey colour of the unroasted cashew nuts.

Yes, the formula of the Alpro Soya Growing Up drink 1-3+ has remained the same. From the age of 1 year, Alpro Soya Growing Up drink 1-3+ can be used as a main drink in a child’s diet. The nutritional composition of Alpro Soya Growing Up drink 1-3+ makes this nutritionally tailored drink suitable for toddlers and children from the age of 1–3 and older. We changed the packaging to emphasize this more clearly on the front of the pack.

Both drinks have comparable nutritional benefits. They are both 100% plant-based, naturally lactose free, contain no added sugars and are low in calories, saturated fat and salt. They’re also a source of calcium, vitamin B2, B12, D and antioxidant vitamin E. They can both be a good contribution to an already varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.

Alpro Caffè contains around 20 mg of caffeine per 100 ml.