http://www.look4ward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/cropped-donkey-1.jpg
Jim Cornall
Swiss-based donkey milk company Eurolactis is ramping up production, and is set to
launch the first large-scale production of a chocolate bar made with donkey’s milk.
P
ierluigi Christophe Orunesu, CEO of Eurolactis, told
DairyReporter that increasing production to meet the
demand for Onalat, the only Tetra
Pak donkey milk in the world, was a
challenge.
“We’re entering a very important
cycle of production. We started
with 20,000 bricks per batch, now
we are going to reach the 40,000
bricks per batch produced,” Orunesu said. “We’re seeing a steady increase in demand for Onalat in Europe, in the US, Asia and Australia.
We are expanding our distribution
network in Italy. We are providing
to key players like Sojasun, who
distribute our product in France,
and have wholesalers in Austria,
Italy, Switzerland and Germany. We
have requests in the UK, but there it
is online only right now.”
Donkey milk supply
Orunesu saysthat obtaining donkey
milk is another challenge. Currently,
Eurolactis takes milk from 1,000
donkeys, mostly in Italy. “But there
is big potential in the Balkans,” he
said, adding that Portugal was another country that could supply
milk. Regional variation, according
to Orunesu, would be minimal in
terms of milk quality. He added,
however, that if suppliers are following the nutritional guidelines,
quality varies little. He did note that
there is a seasonal variation, and
that milk quantity can be affected
by location and feed differences.
Animal welfare is important, he
added, because if the animal is not
respected, the quality and quantity
of the milk can be impacted.
Milk with benefits
Donkey milk is different to cow’s
milk in many respects. “Consumers
want milk with true benefits,”
Orunesu explained. “And donkey
milk proteins are very close to human breast milk. Donkeys have one
stomach, as we do; this means the
protein is not transformed as with
ruminants.” He also added that
donkey milk is the only naturally
hypo-allergenic milk, and has a
good balance of omega-3 and omega 6. As donkey milk can be consumed by those with allergies to
milk, “Doctors in Italy and France
are starting to recommend donkey
milk as a substitute,” he said.
“What is important is the technology we are using, some UHT technology can impact on the final composition but, in our case, we preserve
and keep more than 95% of the
vitamins, minerals and there is no
impact on the protein, so we keep
the value of the milk.” The milk is
available in stores in Europe and
also online, where three 100ml cartons cost €3.20 ($3.64).
Donkey chocolate
Later in 2016, Eurolactis will be
launching a premium donkey milk
chocolate bar with “a famous master chocolatier in Switzerland.”
Orunesu says this is a large scale
production of a non-bovine sweet
chocolate that has naturally hypoallergenic milk. “It is a project that
we have been working on for eight
or nine months. It’s not the first in
the world (for donkey milk chocolate), but it will be the first on a
large scale. The taste is very sweet
and light. Donkey milk has a sweet
taste; it is three times less fat than