However, a major UK milk cooperative working exclusively in the organic sector believes the cull, while tragic for manufacturer and farm owner Trioni, will not significantly dent supply or hamper the industry overall.
Huw Bowles, chief operating officer for cooperative OMSCo, told DairyReporter.com that the overall threat posed by bTB to organic production was no more devastating than for regular farming, despite some possible supply problems.
Bowles suggested that no additional restrictions were imposed on organic farmers in terms of preventing bTB outbreaks, even though additional difficulties in ensuring milk supply from other, less common, organic herds were likely.
Cull
Trioni, which claims to have been a pioneer of organic flavoured milk products on the UK market since its launch of the Daioni brand in 2003, says there is no danger to consumers from its products, according to UK-based newspaper, the Western Mail.
Besides these assurances, reports suggest that hundreds of animals will today be culled to try and prevent further spread of the disease at its farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Despite the blow of the infection to the Daioni brand, and manufacturer Trioni, which also manages the organic farm affected by the contamination, OMSCo said it expected to continue to supply the group with milk.
Bowles added that, out of a supply of about 300 million litres of organic milk managed by the cooperative, it was estimated that Trioni supplied an excess of one million litres of the total.
bTB concerns
While the cooperative expects the organic industry to bounce back from the setback, bTB is increasingly proven to be a major concern for a number of milk producers.
Last year, a number of players within the dairy industry stressed fears over protecting milk supply, with diseases like bTB and increasing input costs leading to disquiet from farmers across the EU.
In the UK alone, the country’s National Farmers’ Union (NFU) estimates that bTB reduces milk output by 300 million litres per year.
Speaking from the House of Commons in London last July, Member of Parliament (MP) David Curry, former head of trade association Dairy UK, said that the entire industry continued to face crises at both consumer and farmer level regarding issues of supply.
Dealing with the concern was therefore likely to remain key areas for future development, particularly in light of dairy farmer concerns across Europe over cost sustainability, he said at the time.