[START] Would you pay extra for 'free-range' milk? Company launches premium dairy product that costs 50 cents more than normal milk - but farmers say the name 'doesn't mean anything'
A Victorian dairy company has released a new premium free-range milk product
The milk, made by Camperdown Dairy, costs 50 cents more than standard milk
The product has prompted calls for a new industry standard for free-range milk
Food Standards Australia said there are no standards around free-range dairy
A dairy company has started selling premium free-range milk, but baffled farmers say the term is meaningless.
Camperdown Dairy has started selling the new product - which costs 50 cents more than normal milk - at 20 Woolworths supermarkets in Victoria.
South Australia Dairyfarmers' Association president John Hunt reacted to the new free-range products with scepticism, saying an industry standard is needed.
A dairy company has started selling premium free-range milk (pictured), but baffled farmers say the term is meaningless
'I read it [free-range] and went, "What's that?" and I'm a dairy farmer. ... if there isn't an industry standard they shouldn't be able to say it,' he told The Herald Sun.
'I could come and say my milk's nuclear-free if I want, it's correct, but it doesn't mean anything.'
Camperdown Dairy chief executive Peter Skene denied claims the term free-range was misleading, and welcomed calls for an industry standard.
Camperdown Dairy has started selling the new product - which costs 50 cents more than normal milk - at 20 Woolworths supermarkets in Victoria (pictured is a stock image)
He said the free-range milk is all from a single farm, whereas some types use milk from multiple farms mixed in large tankers.
Cows on Mr Skene's farm are naturally sheltered, have at least one acre of land each and are not subject to intense feeding.
The lack of an industry standard for free-range dairy products was confirmed by Food Standards Australia.
A national standard for free-range eggs was written into Australian Consumer Law in April this year.
It defines free-range eggs as: 'eggs laid by hens that had meaningful and regular access to an outdoor range during daylight hours during the laying cycle.'
'Were able to roam and forage on the outdoor range, and were subject to a stocking density of 10,000 hens or less.'
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