"Cold-Pressed" Milk Just Got Legalised In Australia

Food authorities in NSW have determined a cold-press system removes an adequate amount of harmful bacteria from milk for sale.

A cold-pressed raw milk product has been approved by an Australian state's food authorities.

madebycow.com.au

The decision by the NSW Food Authority came after more than year of discussions aimed at making sure the milk is safe for consumption.

Sydney's Made by Cow will be the first suppliers of cold-pressed "raw" milk in Australia. The company markets its milk as "raw" despite the authority not recognising the product as such because it undergoes "high pressure processing" to eliminate pathogens.

"The process that we undertake is very different to traditional heat pasturisation," Made by Cow's founder Saxon Joye told BuzzFeed News. "We wanted to take a less processed approach, or a simpler approach, and just mess with the milk a lot less."

Cold-pressed milk is made using a high-pressure water system to eliminate microorganisms living in the milk.

Flickr: archivalproject

Normally raw milk is heated to 72 degrees celsius then homogenised before being sold.

Made By Cow milk "is bottled straight from the cow within hours and put under intense water pressure, compressing both the bottle and milk inside for several minutes. This pressure eliminates any remaining harmful bacteria, whilst being gentler on milk's natural nutrients".

Joye likened the world-first technology pressure-levels to placing a bottle at the bottom of the ocean, the result being a "wonderful flavour with a beautiful cream line at the top".

"We milk our jersey herd, we put the milk in a bottle, and then we put it under high water pressure, it's pretty much like taking it to the bottom of the ocean, that type of pressure," he said.

"Really for us the holy grail was just to apply our technology to milk, so we need a really good high quality of milk. If it doesn't meet a benchmark the milk just goes to heat pasturisation and is sent somewhere else."

Raw cold milk has been a topic of controversy in Australia since a 3-year-old died in 2014 after consuming it.

Facebook: aus.arm

After the child died the Victorian government introduced new regulations on raw milk, forcing all batches sold in Victoria to use chemical associated with nail varnish to make sure all harmful bacteria and parasites are eliminated.

Made by Cow's cold pressed raw milk is currently only available in NSW, but Joye says it will hopefully be available in Victoria by next week.