RULES introduced to combat childhood obesity have scuppered an offer by dairy farmers Don and Emma Dennis to supply whole milk to their local school on the island of Gigha.

The couple, who milk 60 cows, operate the Wee Isle Dairy from their base at Achamore House on the island. Producing in the region of 900 litres a day, the bulk of their production goes to First Milk, with around 15% kept for their own bottling and ice cream business delivered to shops around Kintyre in their refrigerated van.

Mr Dennis told The Scottish Farmer: “The head of Gigha Primary, Julie Wilson has been keen to have us supply our fresh whole pasteurised milk to the school which is on our doorstep. However, she has come up against a brick wall, having being told by Argyll and Bute County Council that children five years and older can only be given semi-skimmed milk, and must not be supplied with whole milk.

“We have no intention of skimming milk," said Mr Dennis. "With all the clear health benefits of whole milk we feel this ruling is ridiculous. Our milk is pasteurised and not homogenised and is in glass bottles. Our farm is less than two miles from the school.

“The semi-skimmed milk supplied to the school is from Grahams Dairy, based miles away at Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire. We keep hearing of the benefits of buying local, but that policy has been thrown out the window by this absurd ruling which has the backing of both the local council and the Scottish Government," he fumed.

Mr Dennis pointed out the recent study, reported two weeks ago, that followed thousands of children as they grew up. Divided into two groups, those who drank semi-skimmed milk and those who drank whole milk, the study revealed a startling result.

“It showed that children raised on semi-skimmed tended to be overweight, whereas the children raised on whole milk were not, the reason being that those drinking semi-skimmed tended to have a snack with their milk, whereas the others had their appetites satisfied by the whole milk on its own," he said. “It is hard to understand why Argyll and Bute County Council have such an idiotic policy.”

The Scottish Farmer spoke to local councillor for Kintyre and the Islands, Anne Horn, who said: "I am not a dietician, but I see no reason why young children should not be given full-fat milk.”

A Scottish Government spokesman commented: “Semi-skimmed milk is proven to have the benefits of full-fat milk, including high levels of calcium, with much lower levels of fat.

“The Scottish Government sets nutritional standards for local authorities to ensure pupils are offered balanced and nutritious food and drink in schools, this includes guidelines recommending the serving of skimmed or semi-skimmed milk only.”

But there may yet be hope. Mr Dennis reported: “We met with our local MSP Michael Russell at the weekend and he has promised to follow up our case, as it appeared clear to him that this was a rather poorly thought-out regulation.”