Toddler Death Sparks Milk Safety Calls

AUSTRALIA – One dead toddler and four ill children should be enough to prompt regulators into vamping up milk standards, say farmers.
calendar icon 5 January 2015
clock icon 1 minute read

Raw or unpasteurised “bath milk” has led to several food safety shocks in Australia, which should be met with stronger labelling and packaging laws, says United Dairyfarmers of Victoria.

“The sale of unpasteurised milk that is labelled as cosmetic, bath or pet milk pose risks to the integrity of the systems designed to protect our consumers,” UDV President Tyran Jones said.

“The UDV condemns schemes set up to deliberately circumvent food regulations. It is unacceptable that unpasteurised milk is packaged similar to pasteurised drinking milk and is often sold in the same refrigerated cabinets despite being labelled as not fit for human consumption.”

The dairy industry was however comforted to hear that consumers were quickly assured they could be confident with the food safety systems used for pasteurised milk, said the UDV.

“I commend the food safety and consumer protection regulators for the clear and direct language they used when recently describing the dangers to people, especially infants, who consume unpasteurised (raw) milk."

Dr Rosemary Lester, Chief Health Officer, was quoted in the media saying: “If this was a food it is something we would recall”.

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