Camel Milk Processor Enters US

08/11/08
    

Written by Solomon Mburu

Vital Camel Milk, sub-Saharan Africa’s only camel milk processor, has broken into the world’s biggest economy after a two- year application process.

Holger Malbarch, the company’s managing director, said the product had received the Food and Drugs Administration’s approval — the critical mark of certification without which no product can be traded in the US.

FDA is the US government agency that certifies the safety of all chemical and biological products sold in its market.

Mr Malbarch said the products had been tested for quality, cleanliness, absence of residues as well as tampering. The certification has paved the way for Vital to export one tonne of processed camel milk to the US every week.

The initiative makes camel milk Kenya’s latest export to the US. The business is among those expected to benefit from the recent signing of an agreement for direct flights between Kenya and the US.

“We are shipping the milk to Los Angeles from where we hope to expand,” said Mr Malbarch.

The Nanyuki-based company mainly processes milk from its nucleus farm but has recently started collecting milk from local farmers to increase its capacity.

The initiative is backed by Northern Rangelands Trust, a non governmental organisation that promotes community based conservation and economic initiatives in Northern Kenya.

Vital Camel Milk exports to the US are shipped out in half litre cans of processed and branded fresh milk.

Export difficulties

A quarter of the consignments is made up of Susa, the traditional fermented sour milk of the nomadic camel keeping communities.

Mr Malbarch said it has been hard to export yoghurt to the US citing the high cost of importing the necessary ingredients from Europe.

In the local market, Vital Camel Milk has been conducting aggressive marketing to sensitize consumers on the medicinal qualities of camel milk. The campaign has so far managed to place fresh camel milk, yoghurt and organic low fat ice cream on the shelves of major supermarkets.

Earlier in the year, the company introduced a new technology that increased the milk’s shelf life from 10 to 30 days without using preservatives. The technology has since been patented with the intellectual property society of Kenya.

Camel milk is known to have components that suppress bacteria and pathogens from causing disease. It is also believed to cushion consumers against peptic ulcers as well as offer an alternative to those allergic to cow milk.

Research also shows that it is three times richer than cow’s milk in Vitamin C and it is also rich in iron, non saturated fatty acids and Vitamin B.

Last year, Vital Camel Milk had threatened to relocate its operations to Ethiopia and Northern India due to the slow pace of at which the government was moving in placing measures to regulate and develop the industry.

Business Weekly