What is permeate and why is Norco milk permeate free?

If you are lactose intolerant, we recommend you drink either Norco Lactose Free Full Cream or Norco Lactose Free Lite Milk.

The Norco Lactose Free range is gentle on tummies because the lactose is broken down into its two component sugars – glucose and galactose. This enables people with a preference to lactose free milk to still benefit from the essential vitamins and minerals that are naturally found in milk.

Norco pays a highly competitive milk price to our co-operative members. As you may be aware, Norco is a dairy co-operative, owned by our farmers.

This means that Norco is 100% owned by Aussie farmers with no external shareholders. Therefore, 100% of all profit generated by the business is paid to our farmer members by way of farm gate milk price, dividend and reinvestment in our farmer owned co-operative. Further detail on our farm gate is outlined in our Annual Report.

The Australian dairy industry predominantly relies on pasture to feed dairy cows.

However, depending on the season conditions and weather, some farmers will also cut hay and silage which they can then use to feed the cows. On some farms they will supplement the feed with grain and animal feed, but this is not the case on all properties. We hope this answers your question!

It is illegal to sell unpasteurised milk for human consumption in Australia.

Pasteurisation ensures that the level of microbacterial growth is insufficient to cause human harm. This process minimises the risk of bacterial contamination.

All Norco dairy products are pasteurised.

Most Aussies are used to seeing homogenised milk. Homogenised milk has cream dispersed evenly throughout the milk.

This is because when it is processed the milk is forced through a fine gap which evenly distributes fat particles through the milk. Non-homogenised milk will have a cream layer on top of the milk as it has not gone through this process. These are often referred to as cream top or farm fresh milk. If you are specifically after non-homogenised milk, why not try Norco Non-Homogenised?

Lower fat milks (lite & skim milks) are not just full cream milk with water added.

These milks actually have some or all of the cream removed to reduce the fat content within the milk. Norco is proud to have a range of great tasting lower fat milks including Lite, Skim, 2% and Calci Boost!

Norco products provide wholesome dairy goodness for children, with essential nutrients for growing bodies such as calcium and protein.

However, low fat or no fat milks are not suitable as a complete milk food for children under 2 years of age.

Milk is a source of a number of essential vitamins and minerals not just calcium.

Milk (and other dairy foods) contain many essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, protein (amino acids), riboflavin, Vitamin A, Vitamin Bs (B1, B2, B6 , B12), zinc, and carbohydrates.

All Norco fresh milks may be frozen for six months and thawed. All frozen milk must be thawed slowly and completely in the refrigerator.

Milk will expand when it’s frozen, so there needs to be ample room in the container to prevent the container bursting or splitting.

Norco thickened creams, pure creams, custards, cheeses and butters, can all be frozen and thawed. All frozen products must be thawed slowly and completely in the refrigerator.

Norco Sour Cream cannot be frozen.

The best way to store Norco products is to place them in the fridge quickly after purchase, and store them in an upright position.

Make sure your fridge is set at less than 5°C. We always recommend you store your Norco product in the fridge shelves not the door – the door can be as much as 6°C warmer than the rest of the fridge!