A Chicago-based start-up company launched GoodSport, a sports drink that’s 97 percent dairy and aims to compete nationally against leading brands. The first-of-its-kind natural sports drink is made with the goodness of milk and backed by science. GoodSport will soon be available on Amazon and at www.goodsport.com, but broader retail distribution is planned for later this year. The product was launched with support from the dairy checkoff and other industry groups, including the checkoff-funded Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The university showed GoodSport how ultrafiltration could harness milk’s electrolytes, vitamins, and carbohydrates and remove its protein to create a clear, light beverage with a mouthfeel that consumers expect from a sports drink. GoodSport also learned how to source its main ingredient sustainably. Dairy companies often ultrafilter milk and use the protein to make products like cheese but can’t use the nutrient-rich part of the milk, called permeate. That means GoodSport rescues a byproduct from dairy companies to produce its beverage. “GoodSport carries dairy’s healthy halo,” says Pennsylvania dairy farmer Marilyn Hershey, who serves as chair of Dairy Management Incorporated. “It not only offers delicious refreshment and nutrition from dairy, but it supports our industry’s sustainability mission. It’s a new way to talk about milk, and it’s exciting for dairy farmers.”
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