A QLD company is claiming its new process can keep milk fresh for 60 days
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Naturo CEO Jeff Hastings says his company’s new technology is a world first and can keep milk fresh for 60 days
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A Queensland-based company says it has created an alternative to pasteurisation that will extend the shelf-life of refrigerated milk to 60 days minimum.
Naturo, based in Coolum, says the technology is a “world first”, opening up new opportunities for export via shipping, rather than by air transport.
Company founder and chief executive Jeff Hastings says the process kills pathogens without relying on heat, instead leaving the milk much closer to its original state.
“Our patented process is the only known method that kills Bacillus cereus, a common but unwanted spore-forming bacterium in milk that produces toxins causing vomiting or diarrhoea,” he claims.
“In our most recent independent scientific testing, the milk remained fresh and fit for human consumption at the conclusion of a 91-day testing period when compared to only 14 days for standard fresh pasteurised milk.
“Our milk can be shipped to all parts of the world that have limited or no access to fresh milk. There is also massive potential for the development of a wide range of dairy products and use by industries where unpasteurised milk is desired, such as cheese making,” he says.
Victorian government regulator Dairy Food Safety Victoria has reviewed data collected by the company during a two-year validation process, and has accepted that the technology developed using the process described in the data may be used as an alternative to pasteurisation.
However the department clarified that it is yet to approve the process being undertaken in any commercial facility in Victoria – as a dairy industry licence must be issued before dairy businesses can operate in the state, and that licence requires an inspection of the relevant premises among other things.
Naturo is currently seeking investment for a pilot plant in Australia capable of producing 10 million litres of milk per annum. The plant will allow the company to establish commercial scale operations for its own brand of products for the domestic and Asian markets.
Naturo has recently received $250,000 in like-for-like funding from the Queensland Government in support of the technology.
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