The International Dairy Research Consortium for Nutrition and Health has officially been launched, Foodbev.com revealed.

The consortium, which consists of six dairy companies throughout the world, will help to support and "accelerate" research into the overall health and nutritional benefits of dairy foods.

According to Nutraingredients.com, the companies include the Dairy Farmers of Canada, Global Dairy Platform, US Dairy Research Institute, Dairy Australia, Centre National Interprofessionnel de l'Economie Laitiere and Danish Dairy Research Foundation.

Their initial and ongoing work may interest those in dietitian jobs, as it may mean the way in which the world utilises dairy products will change in the future.

A spokesperson for the consortium and vice-president of the National Dairy Council, Gregory Miller, gave an insight into the inspiration for the research group.

Miller stated: "Right now, resources are tight so it makes sense to align research activities. We're talking about pre-competitive - not confidential - research, so why not share information and resources?

"If we share information we can identify research gaps and design programmes that can fill those gaps," he added.

"Building international alignment through this consortium will also accelerate our ability to firmly establish newer benefits of dairy and its position as an essential part of a healthy diet."