An Australian first, the deal will see production begin this month.
Bubs Australia founder and chief executive Kristy Carr said the product would address growing demand for premium infant formula products.
‘‘Parents in Australia and abroad are looking for authentic provenance and traceability when it comes to infant nutritionals,’’ Mrs Carr said.
‘‘With the goat milk supply chain under our control, and using only Australian fresh goat milk, we will be able to label the product with ‘Made in Australia from average 70 per cent Australian ingredients’, which will be unrivalled in this market.
‘‘We aim to further increase our Australian sourcing of total ingredients to over 90 per cent within 12 months.
‘‘Being able to produce our goat infant milk formula in a single step directly from farm gate is an Australian first for goat dairy, that is only made possible because we have exclusive ownership of fresh goat milk from the largest milking goat herds in Australia.’’
The conventional raw milk will be converted to milk powder before being rehydrated, often months later, and wet-mixed with additional ingredients and nutrients before being spray-dried again.
‘‘The one-step nutritional blending and conversion of our own exclusive goat milk supply by Tatura will bypass the intermediate step, delivering a fresher product, an improved nutritional and taste profile, and better solubility when made up for consumption,’’ Mrs Carr said.
‘‘Importantly, the one-step conversion generates a number of critical efficiencies for Bubs — the production and ingredient cost are significantly reduced, making the new production method margin accretive.’’
Successful trials have already been completed, with the final product bound for major supermarkets and pharmacies in Australia and e-commerce platforms in China, with an option to renew the contract for a further three years.
Bega Cheese chief executive officer Paul van Heerwaarden said the company was looking forward to producing the product, which could be ‘‘genuinely positioned as Australian’’.
