The Great Milk Controversy

It has all the makings of a political thriller – allegations of a cover-up, claims and counter-claims in the headlines, corporate litigation, and the humble dairy cow. Admittedly, cows aren’t your typical pulp fiction fodder, but you get the picture – it’s a high stakes game, and the outcome could potentially impact on your health.

The cause of all this controversy is milk. For years we’ve been told that milk is an essential source of nourishment, rich in calcium and proteins. But a growing body of research has found that milk could possibly be harmful.

It all comes down to one protein molecule, beta-casein, which occurs naturally in cow’s milk. When A1 beta-casein is broken down and digested by the human body it produces beta-casomorphin-7, or BCM7. Recent studies have suggested that BCM7 could cause or aggravate Type 1 diabetes, coronary heart disease, autism, and schizophrenia.

But not all milk contains A1 beta-casein. Some milk contains a slightly different protein, A2 beta-casein, which does not break down into BCM7. A single gene determines which type of milk a cow will produce, so it is entirely possible to genetically screen livestock to produce only A2 milk.

Some experts are pushing for just that on a national scale, but dairying giant Fonterra maintains that A1 milk presents no immediate risk to public health, and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority has likewise recommended that no action, other than more research, is necessary at present.

Still, the A2 debate continues to make the headlines. The NZFSA’s report on the A2 milk hypothesis is currently the subject of two independent inquiries – one looking into the science of the report, and one examining the decision-making processes which led to the report. The debate is of such importance, both nationally and internationally, that the highly esteemed European Food Safety Authority has been asked to conduct the scientific review.

Fonterra hasn’t managed to avoid controversy either. Following a 2002 High Court proceeding in which the dairying giant was alleged to have covered up the harms of A1 milk, Fonterra again came under attack last year in Keith Woodford’s damning book, Devil in the Milk.

Woodford, a Professor of Farm Management and Agribusiness at Lincoln University, claims that both Fonterra and the NZFSA have “willfully overlooked” the potential harms of A1 beta-casein. “There’s a whole web of intrigue which relates both to Fonterra and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and how they’ve actually worked very closely together,” he says.

According to Woodford, Fonterra is well aware of the potential harms of A1 milk but has made every effort to bury the issue. “Fonterra had quite a lot of evidence and then they put a particular slant on that evidence,” he says. “They decided that A2 milk was a threat rather than an opportunity, and they went to really extensive means to try and hide the evidence they’ve got.”

Much of that evidence came from the lab of Dr Jeremy Hill, a Fonterra scientist whose research led to two patent applications relating to A2 milk. Fonterra’s potential to profit from A2 milk might seem at odds with its current stance on the issue, but spokesperson Hilary Marett says it is standard business practice to apply for patents while research is still underway. She adds that current evidence suggests that A1 milk is safe to consume. “We are a responsible organisation that reviews any new science, both good and bad, about milk and its components,” she says. “We’re comfortable that milk is completely safe to drink.”

This stance is echoed by the NZFSA. “There are no grounds for regulatory action to be taken,” says Deputy Chief Executive Sandra Daly. “Had there been grounds, there would be changes to A1/A2 milk.”

“Our advice is that people can read any of the information we have on our website or anywhere they like and make their own choices. We are very committed to consumer choice,” she adds.

Only one company in New Zealand is currently offering that choice. The A2 Milk Corporation, established in 2002, licenses out the intellectual property for identifying A2 cattle and producing and marketing A2 milk. Two milk processors have already adopted A2 Corporation’s technologies and are now offering A2 milk on supermarket shelves throughout New Zealand.

Professor Woodford says A2 Corporation “decided to try and exploit the issue in terms of making money from it,” but CEO Anthony Lawler says his company is simply offering a choice to consumers. “A2 milk provides all of the normal benefits of milk, but it has some added benefits around heart health, diabetes and some neurological diseases,” he says.

A2 milk may have other benefits as well, according to anecdotal evidence. “People who’ve had trouble digesting dairy before seem to be able to digest A2 milk,” says Lawler. “I’d like to think it tastes better, too.”

A2 Corporation is using these suggested benefits to market its milk worldwide. The company has a fifty-percent stake in A2 Dairy Products in Australia, and is licensing out its technologies to milk processors in Asia and the United States. Lawler says the ongoing media controversy has helped to raise the worldwide profile of A2 milk. “It has made a difference to our sales both here and in Australia,” he says. “It’s a dramatic increase. Our sales in Australia increased by over eighty percent.”

But Keith Woodford says media exposure can be a double-edged sword. “The media is always interested in controversy, so it’s easy to get the media to pick up on issues,” he says. “It’s actually a lot harder to get the media to lay the facts out on the table.”

“All I want to see, one way or the other, is the wide availability of A2 milk,” he says. “I’m not going to take sides in terms of commercial battles between different organisations. I just want to see the milk out there.”

Woodford says there are more than a million A2 cows in New Zealand, and only one tenth of those would be needed to produce all the fresh milk New Zealand requires. But will the New Zealand dairy industry make the transition to A2 milk production in the near future? It seems unlikely. All of the key players are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach until the independent inquiries into the NZFSA report are concluded. “We’ll be awaiting the outcome and we will review it and examine it like anyone else, but at this stage we’re still really comfortable that milk is a completely safe product to drink,” says Fonterra spokesperson Hilary Marett.

In the meantime, A2 Corporation is investing in further research, while Keith Woodford continues to raise awareness of the issues. “The industry hoped that the problem would go away,” he says. “That’s what we’ve been fighting against.” And so the battle over A2 milk continues. It’s a confusing mire of claims and refutations where only one thing seems certain – the controversy won’t be disappearing any time soon.