There is a problem within the British milk industry.

Fifty years ago, most milk was sold at the doorstep, and though in big cities it might be the province of the large conglomerate dairies, in the majority of towns and villages, smaller enterprises held sway.

Many of these were run by groups of farmers who owned the entire production and delivery chain from grass field to milk van.

Much of this milk was of exceptional quality.

Shelf life was not a great priority, given daily deliveries, so heavy pasteurization was unnecessary and indeed some milk was pure enough for no treatment to be required at all. This allowed far more of the subtle flavor to be appreciated.

Today milk is sold almost entirely through supermarkets.

The change of work and shopping patterns provided the impetus, and the effect on specialist suppliers has been dramatic and fast.

Against the rock-bottom commodity pricing of the supermarkets, the added-value cost of a delivered pint looks expensive. Prices get driven down.

Moreover, the supermarket version is always a “lite” item, never a top-quality one – good enough to pass muster but never outstanding. It has been downgraded to an article of trade, no longer a food and certainly not a luxury.

To add insult to injury, having grabbed the market, the trans-national companies now trade on the remnant perception of British milk as high quality merchandise, yet source much of it from cheap foreign producers who work to much lower standards, and then try to force the British price even lower “to compete.”

Permanent pasture of the right quality takes many years to establish, there is no such thing as a fast-start cow, and a lifetime’s fund of technical know–how takes, well, most of a lifetime to build up.

Once these businesses are lost the chances of tasting top quality milk again are very, very low.

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