Online retailer Muscle Food has begun selling half litre bottles of raw camel’s milk, although shoppers should brace themselves for the hefty £19 per bottle price tag.
The chilled milk, which contains 17g of protein per bottle, is sourced from grass-fed camels reared in the Netherlands, and went on sale under the retailer’s own-label range this week. The taste is similar to cow’s milk but slightly saltier, and it contains 53 kcal per 100ml compared to 62 kcal in full fat cow’s milk.
Muscle Food said the milk was so much more expensive than cow’s milk due to the comparative lack of the animal in dairy farming environments (one for every 12,000 cows in Europe), and due to the fact they only lactate when they have a calf. The product has a long history, having been used for many centuries in Asia the Middle East and Africa, however Muscle Food is claiming it is the first major retailer to list the product in the UK.
The unpasteurised milk is also rich in non-saturated fatty acids, iron, Vitamins B, C and D, calcium, and zinc, and contains around 20% whey protein and 80% casein – which the retailer suggested was “different to that found in cow’s milk, which is why it is thought to be suitable for people who are lactose intolerant”.
Sale of camel’s milk products have, to-date, been rare in the UK. Lyaket Hassan, a convenience store owner in Moss Side, Manchester, listed a similar product in 2013 costing £6 a pint, while The Grocer held a taste test in a London cafe last February of coffees made from camel’s milk.
“The health benefits of drinking camel’s milk over cow’s milk are huge – it’s packed with the essential vitamins and minerals we all need for a healthy diet and it’s a rich source of protein which our customers love,” said Muscle Food spokesman Darren Beale.
“We’ve seen this fly off the shelves since we began stocking and the feedback from our customers has been fantastic – not a single one has got the hump,” he added.
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