DFO's Milk Bulletin, April 2010

1. April 2010
Milk Bulletin
Monthly highlights about the largest economic sector in Ontario agriculture
Working to increase awareness of the 100% Canadian milk symbol
Industry News & Views
Helping consumers choose100% Canadian New report shows
cows not villains in
A
new 100% Canadian Milk encourage consumers to look
in-store promotion kicked for it when buying dairy gas emission problem
D
off early April in more than products. airy cows are
1,700 grocery stores nationally, DFC representatives will also responsible for only 2.7
including major banners like visit about 400 stores to inform per cent of global
Wal-Mart and Loblaws. consumers about the symbol's greenhouse gas emissions, a
The promotion, which runs meaning and encourage new report from the UN's
until the end of May, aims to participation in the Canadian Food and Agriculture
increase visibility, awareness Capital City contest. It offers Organization has found. This
and understanding of the 100% consumers a chance to win a figure includes emissions
related to milk production,
Canadian Milk symbol, and trip for a family of four to any
processing and transport.
Canadian capital city,
or one of several The report, Greenhouse
secondary prizes, Gas Emissions From the Dairy
including 50 Via Rail Sector, was commissioned in
gift certificates worth response to calls from the
$300 each. dairy industry for more
Consumers can information after a 2006
register for the contest report that claimed 18 per
by entering the UPC cent of all greenhouse
emissions were caused by
code of a product
the livestock sector. That
bearing the 100%
figure is used widely by
Canadian Milk symbol
environmental campaigners,
at asourceofpride.ca.
but disputed by the livestock
Simply click on the
industry.
enter button at the
bottom of the page and The International Dairy
fill out the form. Federation welcomed the
new FAO report as a
significant step to quantify
greenhouse gas emissions
Milk Bulletin is published monthly by the Communications & Planning Division of Dairy Farmers of from the dairy sector and
Ontario, 6780 Campobello Road, Mississauga, ON L5N 2L8. provide an informed basis to
For more information please contact Bill Mitchell, Assistant Director. further mitigate emissions
Dairy Farmers of Ontario operates as a non-profit marketing co-operative representing and totally
financed by all the dairy farmers of the province. within the supply chain.

2. A lot of people who think they have lactose intolerance, don’t
Wide support for
Lactose intolerance overestimated
government moves to
D
airy product consumption in
the U.S. may have just been stop raw milk sales
given a boost.
D
airy processors
According to the National Institute
of Health (NIH), almost 25 per cent of
support government
Americans who claim to have actions that maintain
lactose intolerance may, in fact, be prohibitions on the sale of
able to digest milk. raw milk anywhere in
Lactose intolerance is the inability Canada.
to digest lactose, the sugar found in Recent incidents in Ontario
milk and dairy products. Normally, and B.C. have forced
an enzyme called lactase breaks
provincial and local health
down these sugars so they can be
absorbed into the bloodstream.
authorities to take legal steps
People whose bodies do not to protect the public.
produce enough lactase can suffer According to the Dairy
from nausea, gas, cramps and other Processors of Canada /
digestive problems within 30 Association des
minutes of eating or drinking essential nutrients.” Transformateurs Laitiers du
lactose-rich foods. The rate of According to a study by Dairy Canada (DPAC/ATLC) human
American adults affected by the Farmers of Canada, the colon consumption of raw milk was
condition varies by race and age. adapts to continued exposure to one of the major sources of
Many people think they are lactose, which reduces symptoms. food-borne illnesses and a
lactose intolerant and thus avoid The prevalence of lactose cause of infant mortality
milk products, but no one really intolerance “is grossly over-
before pasteurization
knows whether they are damaging estimated,” DFC states.
A number of strategies have been
became widely utilized.
their health, said an NIH panel of
specialists. Some studies show proposed to prevent dietary DPAC/ATLC welcomes the
people who think they are lactose deficiencies in people who are actions taken by the Ontario
intolerant actually can digest the lactose intolerant. These include Government to appeal a
sugar, and the NIH panel worried consuming small amounts of lactose January Court of Justice ruling
people who completely avoid dairy throughout the day, combining and last month the Fraser
products miss an important source lactose-containing products with Valley Health Authority's
of calcium and vitamin D, nutrients other foods, increasing tolerance by
permanent injunction to stop
important for bone health. gradually increasing dairy intake
over time, eating low-lactose dairy
the selling of raw milk in
“A lot of people who think they
have lactose intolerance don't,” said products and using probiotics. British Columbia. The case in
panel chairman Dr. Frederick Suchy, The Institute has called for more Ontario involves a farmer's
Mount Sinai School of Medicine in research into lactose-restricted diets distribution of raw milk and
New York. across ages and ethnic groups to cheese products. In
“They may have other conditions, better quantify their health impact. Chilliwack, B.C. authorities
or they may just need to consume Meanwhile, the lactose-free dairy acted to stop Home on the
smaller amounts of dairy product market is growing rapidly. Range from selling its
products. Whether they are truly U.S.demand for lactose-free milk unpasteurized milk, claiming
lactose intolerant or not, it is has increased by 20 per cent per the small dairy is "willingly
important they meet recommended year since 1997, according to NIH causing a health hazard."
intakes of calcium and other research.