New
Zealand backs A1 milk safety
Source
of Article: http://www.dairyreporter.com/Safety-Hygiene/New-Zealand-backs-A1-milk-safety
By Shane Starling, 01-Jul-2009
Regular milk has won a vote of
support over its general safety after the New Zealand government backed a
European assessment that found no concerns over the A1 casein forms it
contains and reversed an earlier commitment to conduct a review of its
own.
A1 caseins
have been linked to health problems such as diabetes, heart disease,
autism and schizophrenia – giving rise to an alternate and niche industry
promoting a form of cow’s milk containing apparently more benign A2 milk
protein caseins.
But after the European Food Safety Authority
(EFSA) conducted a review of A1 milk and found no safety issues, the NZ
Ministry of Food Safety said there was no need for the country that
house’s the world’s biggest dairy, Fonterra, to conduct a similar review.
Food Safety minister, Kate Wilkinson, said there
was little point in furthering investigation into A1 milk, the same milk
drunk the world over by billions of people, and which is mostly derived
from Holstein and Friesian cows.
“The EFSA review is considered definitive and it
found that there was no need for a risk assessment of the safety of A1
milk,” Wilkinson said.
The Devil in the Milk
Concerns about regular A1 milk rose earlier this
decade after attention gathered around a book called, The Devil in the
Milk, that highlighted diseases that may stem from the use “mutated”
or A1 caseins.
Written by Dr Keith Woodford, The Devil in
the Milk summarized about 100 studies and argued the 300
million-strong global A1 herd should switch to A2 milk.
Professor of Farm Management and Agribusiness at
Lincoln University Dr Keith Woodford’s wrote a book “The Devil in the
Milk” summarised some 100 scientific studies, which lead to a dairy war
that conceivably could’ve seen the world’s 300 million plus dairy herd
changed to A2.
Of the NZ government decision to back the EFSA
safety review, Dr Woodford stated in press reports: “There are many
misstatements within the cabinet paper, presumably supplied by the New
Zealand Food Standards Agency. This includes that supposedly all parties
agreed that the EFSA findings would be definitive. In fact, the EFSA
findings were inevitable given the very narrow terms of reference that
were chosen.”
A2 milk is available in major supermarkets in
Australia from companies such as the New Zealand company, A2 Corporation,
and has also debuted in the UK and has a limited presence in New Zealand.
“It is very important that the public do not
interpret this situation as meaning that the science is settled in
relation to A1 and A2,” Dr Woodford
said.
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