Raw Milk Advertising Rules Tightened

The Ministry of Primary Industries has recently tightened the rules around the manufacture and sale of raw milk in New Zealand. The aim of this is to help control the health risks associated with the consumption of raw milk (milk that has not been pasteurised). Pasteurisation is a process that that involves heating milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time in order to kill harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria.

Advertisers of raw milk are now required to include the following warning information in their advertisements:

“Raw milk may contain harmful microorganisms that can cause serious illness. To reduce the risk of illness, raw milk should be heated to at least 70 ⁰C for one minute. This is critical for infants, young children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems”.

There are accompanying rules for how this statement is to be displayed or presented, found in Part 8 of the Raw Milk for Sales to Consumers document.

Furthermore, from 1 November 2016, only producers registered by the Ministry for Primary Industries Regulated Control Scheme (RCS) will be allowed to sell raw milk.  The requirements that raw milk producers and suppliers have to meet are set out in the Raw Milk for Sale to Consumers Regulations 2015.