Put milk back in glass

WESTERN Australian small-scale dairy Bannister Downs, at Northcliffe in the south-west, is about to put its cream into glass. Mat and Sue Daubney - whose double cream was highly commended in the 2008 Vogue Entertaining & Travel Produce Awards - have been in the vanguard of food packaging reform with their eco-smart chalk-based milk containers. They also use recyclable cardboard crates, rather than plastic, to ship their milk products. But the great majority of dairies continue to use plastic for storing and shipping milk.

Australian national dairy supplier Parmalat says it discontinued glass bottles in 1996 because of ‘a significant drop in consumer demand’. More than 33 dairies in the United States continue to bottle milk in glass. Pennsylvania’s Apple Valley Creamery is one of them. It bottles milk in ‘returnable’ glass, claiming that drinkers prefer it for a fresher-yielding taste and because of its environmental friendliness.

While the federal government’s environment minister Peter Garrett and his state counterparts dither over bans on plastic shopping bags, why not press your grocer to drop plastic and demand milk in glass or a substitute eco-friendly container?

Blue Marble Family Farm in Wisconsin is another US dairy with a revolutionary attitude.

‘Land-farm-table is the premise that serves as the foundation for all that we do here at Blue Marble Family Farm,’ says Nick Kirch. ‘It speaks to the sustainability of the land, the manner in which we treat our animals and the quality of the products that reach your table bearing our name. In all things, we are working to preserve nature’s many gifts and to ensure the longevity of this big blue marble on which we live, for many, many generations to come.’

‘We’re attempting to effect change in the way the world looks at farming, at farmers and at the needs of consumers. Alone we can only complain. Together we can make a change. The process is long and slow, but we believe progress can be made, one small revolution at a time.

‘Blue Marble Family Farm produces milk that is the very freshest possible. It is ‘grown’, pasteurised and bottled right here at the farm and delivered within hours, directly to a retail outlet near you. We use only glass bottles because glass keeps milk colder and, well, milk just plain tastes better in glass. ‘