It is hard to justify paying for a litre of wet nuts, when you can get so much nutrition from a litre of milk, the CEO of the National Dairy Council has said.

Emma Walls said that sales of dairy alternatives have peaked and are now retreating.

“I think there’s a reason why it has retreated and I think it’s very difficult for those plant-based alternatives to compete with dairy from a taste point of view, certainly from a nutrition point of view and from a cost point of view.

“Particularly when you’re a consumer in a cost-of-living crisis and every euro counts, I think it’s quite hard to justify a litre of wet nuts when you can get so much calcium, iodine, phosphorus, potassium, protein and carbohydrates from a delicious litre of milk. Now I would say that, I’m entirely captured when it comes to dairy and I acknowledge that, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s twice the nutrition for half the volume and half the price,” she told the Irish Farmers Journal this week.