Camel milk simultaneously expresses the values of consumer health, animal welfare and production resilience. The prospects for sustainable and extensive camel farming are also real and promising in the Mediterranean and Europe. (1)
Camel Milk – the research project co-funded by PRIMA (Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area), with the participation of our FARE team (2)-has contributed to the development of virtuous supply chains, from France to Turkey and Algeria, where an international conference on the subject has just concluded. (3)
However, these valuable opportunities for sustainable development and evolution of the relationship between humans and animals, as well as animal husbandry, are being threatened in the EU by delusional national measures. Like that of the Dutch government, which would like to ban dromedary farms without any justification, in violation of law.
1) Resilience
Camels and dromedaries are the only large mammals capable of surviving in desert areas and adapting to various latitudes and microclimates. From the scorching Sahel and Maghreb, Ethiopia and Somalia, the Middle East and Asia Minor, India and Pakistan, to harsh Mongolia and Australia.
European researchers have been studying the traditional use of camels for the past few decades. Dwelling on milk production (as well as wool and meat). (4) Thus, the first herds of Camelus Bactrianus and Camelus Dromedarius were started in Europe and North America.
2) Sustainable development, animal welfare
The environmental footprint of camelids is extraordinarily smaller than that of cattle. Water consumption is about 20%, ammonia emissions 10-15% (even lower where urine is collected separately), methane emissions also much lower.
The animal welfare of camelids is in turn ecological and economic. There is no need to set up the stables with air conditioning or water spraying systems to cool the fleeces. And milk production, comparable in Arabia and northern Europe, demonstrates their adaptability.
2.1) Extensive farming.
Camels are very intelligent and have a simple primary need, to move freely. Their herds are therefore extensive, without boundaries in sparsely man-made areas. They travel up to 20 km every day and perform ecosystem services, such as controlling the spread of brambles, thistles and nettles in the land, among other things.
They return in the evening to the ‘home’ set up for them by humans. Who offer them water and any food supplements (cereals in general). In addition to milking lactating camels, which well appreciate this service that reduces their pressure and discomfort on the mammary glands. In fact, puppies start eating grass as early as after the first month of life, and their hunger for milk is thus reduced.
2.2) Ancestral wisdom and good practices.
The relationship between humans and camels has ancestral traditions. Especially in Arab countries, where camelids are a source of family pride and are passed on, from generation to generation, as the most valuable of assets. Respect for animals is an essential part of this culture.
Isolated attempts at herd intensification are cited in the literature as failed experiments, not to be repeated. Camels confined in stables quickly accumulate weight and lose their ability to reproduce, milk production plummets.
Good practices of allowing camelids ample freedom of movement have thus become well-established and should be incorporated into animal welfare requirements. Also for the purpose of preventing what has instead happened on cattle farms.
2.3) Biodiversity
Genetic diversity is fundamental and must be maintained in its breadth. Just in Europe, passionate researchers and breeders are therefore building a database of camels. Indispensable, taking into account that:
– regulatory, even before logistical, obstacles to importing camels and the lack of herd books in Europe have already caused inbreeding (and impoverishment of genetic diversity),
– intensive species selection aimed at exaggerating productivity levels, as has already occurred in the dairy cattle sector, must be avoided.
3) Health
Camel milk has always been recognized in countries where its production takes place as a valuable health food. Research in recent decades has confirmed the nutritional and health qualities of camel milk. With different levels of scientific evidence and variability of micronutrient contents, in the following terms.
3.1) Nutritional properties
Source of protein of high biological value and easy assimilation.
Prevalence of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), with appreciable Omega 3 contents (varying with grazing areas),
Rich in vitamins C and D, iron, calcium, zinc.
High digestibility and suitability for consumption even by lactose-intolerant individuals.
3.2) Health virtues
The probiotic action of LAB(Lactic Acid Bacteria) detected in camel milk has effects of:
– Stimulation of the immune system, thanks in part to the presence of immunoglobulins, (5)
– Anti-inflammatory, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective functions,
– Contribution to the reduction of blood cholesterol,
– Contribution to intestinal eubiosis,
First and foremost, lait de ch amelle (or lait de chameau) is distinguished by its ability to help prevent and treat diabetes, thanks in part to an insulin-like protein. (6)
4) Markets
Camel milk consumption has traditionally been relegated to production areas due to the difficulty of storing fresh milk in remote areas of low- and middle-income countries.
Over the years, the luckiest farmers have been able to purchase generator sets and refrigerators to store milk after milking.
Some have also managed to organize small pasteurization and packaging plants to ensure the microbiological safety of milk and its distribution to different markets.
4.1) Opportunities for growth
Widespread awareness of the merits of camel milk has encouraged the growth of demand in urban settings, although its price is markedly higher than that of cow’s milk (see section 4.3). The technologies adopted by some enterprises have favored the extension of the product range. UHT milk and milk powder, also popular in China. But also ice cream, chocolate, baby food and cheese. As well as cosmetics and soaps.
FAO estimates that global camel milk production increased, +8%, between 2009 and 2019. And the actual figures may be far higher, where the census of camels in Chad revealed their presence in four times the number estimated by FAO. Growth forecasts are far more significant, +8 percent annually over the next five years according to FAO, thanks to the wider variety of references and the flywheel of online distribution.
4.1) Production costs
The higher cost of camel milk compared to cow milk is related to the physiology of a frugal being that consumes little and produces what is necessary, about 6-7 liters instead of the 30-40 of cows selected for that alone.
Lactation in camelids also lasts 10-12 months (after 13 months of pregnancy), and milk can be taken only after the nearby pup is nearly satiated.
Attention to the health and welfare of camelids is also highest because if the mother does not accept the young, or the young die, lactation stops. All the more reason to treat animals with great care.
4.2) Sales formats
Consumption of camel milk, due to its selling price and its superfood nature, lends itself to limited quantity sales formats. A nutritious and valuable food, natural for real, to be purchased in bottles that rarely exceed 250 or 500 ml.
5) Holland, banning dromedaries
The European Commission-as has been repeatedly reported, including by the European Court of Auditors in 2018 (7,8)-is seriously behind schedule in proposing systemic reform of animal welfare rules. And in the legislative vacuum, several member states are developing exhaustive national lists of domestic and companion animals whose breeding and sale is permitted on the grounds that such activities do not pose a substantial risk to animal welfare and human safety.
In the Netherlands, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality published a list of mammals allowed for breeding, 6.7.22, which includes camels but not also dromedaries. This means that from January 2024, if the rule is not changed, dromedaries will be banned from Dutch soil and their farms will have to cease their activities. An earlier decision was made in 2015 and overturned in 2017 by the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (NL) for violation of EU rules and failure to state reasons.
5.1) Dutch Delirium
Following the judicial censure of the previous attempt to ban dromedary farming, the Dutch government hired a ‘commission of experts’. Who, however, in reaffirming the delusion of the phantasmagorical ‘dangerousness’ of the dromedary, ignore 4,000 years of the history of its domestication, entirely analogous to that of its Bactrian camel ‘cousin’.
The scientific study now being published in Animals (Smits et al., 2022)-whose authors include one of the foremost experts on camelids, my friend Bernard Faye- thus offers a critical review of the theorems deduced by the committee of (in)experts (on camelids) enlisted by the Amsterdam government. (12) Highlighting how the millennial history of domestication reflects not only the friendly character of Camel dromedarius but also its genetic evolution. Supported by the review of 527 peer-reviewed published scientific studies.
5.2) Legal Notes
Producers of camel milk and its derivatives in the European Union follow the same hygiene and food safety rules as for cow’s milk. The same goes for the only non-European dairy industry(Camelicious, Dubai, United Arab Emirates) authorized since 2013 to import camel milk and products containing it into the EU.
The protocols developed by camelid experts to ensure animal welfare meet objectively higher standards than those still in vogue for cattle farms. And it is inadmissible, as well as contrary to EU law, to assume national bans that could hinder a sustainable supply chain promoted by Europe itself in research projects such as Camel Milk.
6) Interim Conclusions
The development of research scientific will make it possible to validate the health-promoting virtues of camel milk, which already – based on nutritional and physiological properties – can be qualified as superfood or functional food (albeit in the absence of scientific consensus on a definition that can encompass the wide variety of foods beneficial to the human body).
After all, the synergy between humans and camelids is exemplary of a strictly cage-free evolution of animal husbandry. Just as 1.4 million European citizens have demanded of the Commission through the ‘End the Cage Era‘ initiative. (10) The inclusion of dromedaries and camels in agricultural and agritourism enterprises will contribute to the blossoming, even in Europe, of a young and promising market.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Camelid milk, Mediterranean perspective. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 8.9.21
(2) Dario Dongo. Camel Milk, superfood. Mediterranean research project. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 2.6.19
(3) Camel milk overview in the Mediterranean basin. International Conference. El Oued University, FIRST. El Oued, Algeria, 11/22/22. https://fb.watch/g_qhEkwlg8/
(4) Marta Strinati. Camel and goat milk to improve climate resilience, the study in Nature Food. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 19.8.22
(5) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. World Milk Day, a toast to Camel Milk. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.6.20
(6) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Camel milk, a supply of probiotics allied to health. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 24.6.21
(7) Dario Dongo, Marina De Nobili. Animal welfare, ad maiora. The Role of ConsumAtors. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.7.20
(8) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Animal welfare, start of public consultation to amend EU regulations. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 20.10.21
(9) Marcel Smits, Han Joosten, Bernard Faye, Pamela A. Burger. (2022). The flourishing camel milk market and its consequences for animal welfare and legislation. Animals 2022.12. x: https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx. www.mdpi.com/journal/animals
(10) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. End the Cage Age, 1.4 million signatures delivered to the European Commission. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6.10.20
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
