Fresh Cream

Hi there. I'm a newbie and I run a bed and breakfast in Rotorua.

When I was a kid in Chritchurch my parents bought fresh cream at the farm gate.

Can I do this now as I would love to serve that thick yummy cream at breakfast?

Look forward to hearing from somebody local.

Happy Christmas!

Hello Innkeeper and a very warm (and humid [] )welcome to the site.

The question you raise is something I am quite passionate about at the moment. I am sure some people on this forum here would even say annoying, [].

I would suggest to you to forget your idea. Sorry! As a consumer you might have a chance. As a business where you provide the food to your guests I would say the risk is far too high. Trust me, I've been there. The consumer can basically chose to break the law but you can't because you would risk your business.

The legal side: You would have to find a farm which has a Risk Management Program (RMP) in place. This is very expensive and can be a time consuming task. The one chance is to find a farm which is contracted to Fonterra and is allowed in their contract to sell a certain percentage of their milk to other people. Fonterra covers the RMP. So now you have your unpasteurized milk. What next? You need to pasteurize it. And then you need to separate the cream. Again, as a consumer using the milk/cream for your own consumption is fine. You on the other side are processing dairy products for a commercial business. So that means you will also need a RMP. Your commercial pasteurizer needs to be audited and approved by NZFSA. Your processes need to be approved and audited as well.

I say this is basically impossible. Other people will tell you they are happy about these regulations because otherwise they would get poisoned when staying at your bed and breakfast and would die! The government will tell you "Of course dear, no problem. As long as you follow the law you can do everything you want!" And then you say "But no, it is virtually impossible" and they will tell you (as they told me) "Oh there are many examples of businesses out there who follow the law and it works for them". They will also tell you - as they told me - that there were recently cases in Timbuktu or the Great Easter Islands where a 99 year old died after consuming unpasteurized cream and that they are sure that YOU don't want something like this happening here in Godzown, "now darling, do you?"

And you like many of the other people here in NZ will shrug your shoulders, buy Fonterra's factory cream and think by yourself "It was such a nice idea!"

Cheers

Peter

Thanks, Peter....or not!

I had a feeling this may be the case, but I had to ask.

Mum would stand a spoon in the cream and it would stand upright. Oh, those were the days when we dolloped it over fresh blackberries we had picked on the roadside near Greymouth!

Many thanks and Happy Christmas.

Colleen

I know what you mean. We milk a Jersey house cow! Unfortunately it gets worse and worse with our over-regulations. Blueberries from the road side would probably be regarded as deadly dangerous as well nowadays. I can imagine in what a situation you are. On one side you want to provide healthy food to your guests on the other it is made impossible by stupid regulations.

Cheers

Peter

Peter you shouldn't joke about the wild berries from the roadside. Some peopel actually do think like that. Our South African neighbour's son was visiting our children once and they started eating blackberries from a very healthy roadside bush and he (the South African boy) started to panic because he didn't know what they were and had been trained to never eat anything he found in the jungle.

Yes igor, it is a jungle out there, isn't it?

Cheers

Peter

In my day "long time ago" we learnt all the things we could eat in the "wild" free!!!!!! and still do love road side blackberries etc.

What roadside Blackberrys ??? ... lol as he moves the goat shelter a bit to the left to hide the blackberry bush

Have a cupboard with lovely homemade blackberry jam!

now I know where to look for some unsprayed b/berries, behind the goat shed HE HE
LmC I am very jealous of you

This sounds like Australia all over. Politicians making rules and regulations that don't make any sense at all. They all have a few things in common, a flapping bottomjaw, no common sense, un-used braincells and a long snout so they can tap into all the free goodies from their own government.
To make matters worse, they listen to all these lunatic politicians and fat cats of the EU, this is the place where all this milk crap started.
Best Wishes for the Festive Season to all members.
Jan. Brisbane.