A PINT of milk is one of the purest products there is, but adding to it could help ensure the future of the Westcountry dairy industry.

That was the underlying message at the opening of a new £1 million innovation centre at a giant creamery in the heart of Devon yesterday.

Opening the facility at Milk Link's Taw Valley Creamery, shadow minister for agriculture and rural affairs James Paice said the Westcountry was the best place in Europe in which to grow good quality grazing grass and the region should therefore be a Continental leader in creating dairy products.

But he said that around half the milk products consumed in this country were at present imported.

New centres of innovation like the one at North Tawton, he said, were crucial in redressing the balance and for the future of the English dairy industry.

"We spend a great deal of time worrying about price of liquid milk and farmers complain that supermarkets don't pay enough," he told the Western Morning News. "But we forget that only half the milk produced goes into bottles – the other half goes into processing."

It was the value-added style of product that Milk Link's new centre was already starting to address.

On a tour of the facility yesterday, the shadow minister and other VIPs from the dairy industry were able to see how flavoured milk drinks and new low-fat cheese products were being developed in-house by a specialised team.

The centre is one of the first of its kind in the UK, having a capability to make test products for sale in modest volume on its very own miniature production line.

"Adding value to basic cows' milk – that's the name of the game," said Matt Richards, Milk Link's head of innovation. "The UK dairy market is one of the most developed in the world, and it's our job to stay at forefront.

"The creamery has been here for a long time making cheese, but what we aim to do now is develop new products to meet consumer and market demands," he added.

"For example, we have active programmes in developing new healthier dairy products without compromising on the taste and quality."

Visitors to the creamery yesterday sampled new flavoured milk drinks aimed at the children's market which will have only 1 per cent fat, but which still taste rich and creamy. There was also a matured cheddar-style cheese containing 30 per cent reduced fat.

Cornish dairy farmer and vice chairman of member-owned Milk Link, Rex Ward, said: "The new centre is all part of the process we've been going through since 2002 when we bought this factory.

"We've invested and modernised – it's all necessary in order to command the market, because the market for milk is not guaranteed.

"Farmers are saying: 'What are you doing to get our prices up?' We have 1,600 members predominantly from a line south of the M4 – and this is our heartland. So this new centre is a way of ensuring our future and it's all done in-house by our own employees.

"Without investments such as the innovation centre, we are going to get further behind and allow our market to be overtaken by imports."