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Camel Milk chocolate lands in Australia

Lauren BrisbaneEver tried Camel Milk? Instead of the typical Cow Milk products sold in the market, a new kid on the block has entered the industry recently.

Inside FMCG sat down with the owner and director of QCamel, Lauren Brisbane, to talk about her company and creating Camel Milk chocolate and other products.

“Why choose Camel Milk? It might be the new kid on the block in the health food market, but camel milk has been a staple of the Middle Eastern diet for thousands of years. Bedouins, nomadic and pastoral tribes would give camel milk to their babies, rub it into their skin and sing its praises for health and wellbeing,” said Brisbane told Inside FMCG.

Brisbane said Camel Milk is the closest thing to human milk, apart from being a natural antibacterial, which is “easily digested by even the fussiest tummies and heals the gut and bowel”.

It has 3 – 5x more iron and 10x more vitamin C than regular milk, but with significantly reduced fat and cholesterol. Ongoing research show it aids in the treatment of different illness or diseases including Autism, Diabetes, Food Allergies, Gut and Bowel Disorders, Autoimmunity, etc.

Inside FMCG: Tell us about how you started QCamel. Why did you choose Camel Milk to create products for your consumers?

Lauren Brisbane: Believe it or not, we had no absolute dairy background when we started our camel dairy. After living in rural central QLD for 12 years, we saw so many families go under during the drought so we began researching better ways of managing the land. Low and behold, we stumbled across camels and [my Husband and I] then became founding members of the Australian Camel Industry Association.

We just fell in love with them and wanted a way to work with them more. When we discovered research on the health benefits of Camel Milk, we knew we had found our calling. Our family had struggled with health issues for years and we turned to holistic and alternative health care.

So being able to combine our love of camels and create a really beautiful, healthy product just fitted in with us perfectly. Our daughter actually uses Camel Milk every day to manage her gut issues and food intolerances. So finally, in 2014, QCamel became the first dairy on the East Coast of Australia and the first to sell pasteurised milk in the country.

What made you decide to create Camel Milk chocolate after starting with milk, yoghurt and soap products?

Since starting the company we have constantly been looking for new ways to enjoy Camel Milk. After the success with our Yoghurt Smoothie, Camel Milk chocolates just became the natural and logical next step. Of course, we are also massive chocoholics! We knew we found the right people to help us make that happen with our friends at Kokopod Chocolate, who are all about Swiss style luxury chocolates combined with the finest Australian ingredients. QCamel is only the second company in the world to produce Camel Milk Chocolates and the first in Australia.

Tell us about creating Camel Milk chocolate. Is it more expensive to create products with it compared to cow’s milk?

Definitely. Camel Milk is expensive to produce, which is why it retails across the world for such a high price. Not only do camels give smaller yields of milk, they are also costlier to manage and maintain. For example, a Camel cow will only produce milk while she is nursing a calf so you are caring for two animals, rather than one, for each litre of milk. Which we think is actually an advantage, because it is automatically a much more ethical milk alternative and that’s what our customers are looking for in their products.

At QCamel, we love being innovative and collaborative. The development of the chocolates have been a collaboration of three really innovative companies in food on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, this has led to the development of our sensational QCamel praline chocolates.

Where do you source Camel Milk?

Camel Milk might seem like an odd product to find on Australian shelves. But most people would be shocked to know that Australia has the largest population of wild camels in the world. Not only are camels drought tolerant, they don’t cause soil erosion, they eat weeds, high browse and don’t strip the land (like other stock animals) and finally, co-grazing with camels increases cattle weight by 5 – 10 per cent.

So, having a camel dairy in Australia actually makes sense in terms of natural resource management. Our camels are a mixture of managed camels and ones we have bred ourselves. We currently have 110 camels. Being a family-run business, our whole family is involved with everything from milking to processing, distribution, marketing, administration and tourism.

How are Australians responding to QCamel products?

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Of course, being the first camel dairy on the East Coast of Australia when we started in 2014, people were initially quite hesitant of Camel Milk. But with so much media attention in recent years, more and more people are aware of it and its health benefits. The biggest hurdle is just getting over the ‘mental hump’ of it coming from a different animal. People are actually excited to try it now and are really surprised at the taste – for the record, Camel Milk tastes just like regular milk with some people noting it is slightly salty with a sweet aftertaste.

We ‘sell out’ of our milk and yoghurt smoothies every week now and demand is constantly increasing. As the premium Camel Milk company in Australia, we supply David Jones and Harris Farm Markets, which is in direct recognition of our high quality products and our very high standard of ethics. Our milk is on the menu at restaurants now, we’ve been on every major Australian Television Network, we were featured on the front cover of Qantas Spirit magazine last year and have also been in the Huffington Post.

Apart from Australia, are you also eyeing overseas markets?

Of course, we have a number of companies we are currently speaking with and developing products for. We are cautious exporters though. Developing overseas markets is a risky business and we would never compromise our quality to ‘get into a market’. Our customer’s health is extremely important to us, so maintaining those high quality products in every market place is imperative. Understanding the consumer demand in each market is extremely important, what sells in Australia may not sell elsewhere. Although our milk seems to be universal.

Where do you sell your products?

Our premium Australian Camel Milk is available in over 100 stores across East Coast Australia, including David Jones and Harris Farm Markets. We also stock a lot of smaller health food shops, fresh food grocers, naturopaths and IGAs. For customers in rural areas, we also ship online orders Australia wide and have clients in Singapore and New Zealand.

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