Goat milk gets boost from A2 protein

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON agricultural editor

Goat milk producers may yet steal a march on the dairy cow sector as promoters of the controversial A2 milk.

Debate is raging within the dairy cow industry over claims that milk with a casein protein known as A2 could be beneficial to people with insulin-dependent diabetes, and coronary heart disease.

Dunedin-based biotech company A2 Corporation recently appealed to farmers interested in supplying A2 milk to contact it, prompting the Dairy Board to advise that it doubted there was "scientifically persuasive evidence to justify a shift to A2 milk production".

Most New Zealand cows produce milk with an A1 protein, or a mixture of A1 and A2. Up to 40 per cent produce A2 milk.

A blood test can identify which cows produce the different types of milk but until recently farmers have had no reason to segregate cows along protein lines.

The 83-farmer Dairy Goat Co-op has no such dilemma - all goat milk is A2 milk, or free of the A1 protein.

"A2 Corporation's claims that they will be producing the first pure A2 milk for the market are incorrect," said co-op chief executive Dave Stanley.

"In fact, there is already an A2 milk available on the market, and has been for 15 years. It is called Nanny Goat Lane."

The co-op is making no claims for its milk in relation to the supposed benefits of the A2 protein.

It acknowledges the Dairy Board's doubts about the science, and that one international study failed to confirm the relationship between A2 milk and diabetes, Mr Stanley said.

"However, there will be a number of consumers who are concerned about A1 milk, particularly where there is a family history of diabetes. In these cases, goat milk provides them with a choice."

A2 Corporation chief executive Dr Corran McLachlan welcomed the goat farmer initiative.

"Good on them. I'm absolutely delighted. It is totally complementary and will serve to help the marketing effort," he said.

Dr McLachlan said cow farmers had responded well to the appeal for A2 suppliers and the company was concerned about being swamped.

He said he was looking forward to A2 cows' milk being on the market in the not too distant future.

But milk retailer Dairy Foods, which has the only licence from the corporation to sell A2 milk, said the launch was some way off.

Dairy Foods' manager of new business developments, Ondine Waddle, said the company was still researching a range of issues including packaging and consumer reaction.

She did not know when a product would be on the market.

Meanwhile, goat co-op marketing manager Tony Giles said the company was poised to meet demand if consumers' awareness of goat milk as A2 boosted sales.

Most goat milk is destined for the co-op's range of infant milk formula, sold mainly in Taiwan and netting most of the industry's $30 million revenue.

The company could, however, direct production to match demand, he said.

Nanny Goat Lane is sold in supermarkets nationwide at the rate of about 12,000 litres a month. It had a small but faithful following, Mr Giles said.

A reduced fat product should be on the market in the next eight weeks, in another effort to boost sales and the profile of goat milk.

Mr Stanley said goat milk sold readily in Asian countries where Chinese tradition held it to be a mild tonic.

"We've had massive success in Asia, and it's really pulled all our resources.

"We really feel now that we have a responsibility to have a better presence in our home market," he said.

"A lot of people have acknowledged the benefits of having goat milk."

A lot of the success of goat milk has been based largely on anecdotal evidence but just two weeks ago the co-op released the results of a 21-month research project showing that goat milk products were helpful to people with certain types of gastrointestinal problems.

The research focused on a small selection of bioactive constituents and properties thought to be present in goat milk, and to play a role in healing and preventing gut damage.

Development manager Dianne Lowry said it had now been shown in animal studies that consuming goat milk significantly reduced the adverse effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories on the inflammation and leakiness of the small intestine.

"The results clearly demonstrate the positive benefits on gut health and function that can result from consumption of goat milk," she said.

As well as taking on the overwhelming supremacy of cow milk, the dairy goat co-op is facing other challenges posed by its powerful cousin.

This week the goat co-op will make a submission on the Dairy Industry Restructuring Bill, which will deregulate the goat milk sector along with the cow milk industry.

The co-op fears its hard-won return to stability and growth since it nearly collapsed in the 1980s will be lost with deregulation.

If it cannot continue to be regulated, the co-op is seeking to have Taiwan as a designated market for 10 years, the same status mooted for the cow industry's quota markets.