18 October 2012

Canberra Milk Should Be Renamed Tokyo Milk

| Brindabella
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Just had this email forwarded to me from a local milko at Aussie Farmers Direct. Didn’t know this!
“Canberra Milk Should Be Renamed Tokyo Milk”
I’ve talked to so many people who don’t realise the brand “Canberra Milk” is now part of the giant Kirin Corporation of Japan’s stable of brands (just like all the Dairy Farmers and Pura products). This is a major part of the reason over 95% of all milk brands in Australia are foreign owned. I also say it should be renamed Tokyo Milk because that would be more honest labelling. Why not forward this email to your Canberra email list and ask them if they know? They probably don’t as the takeover was done during Easter several years ago when no-one was watching the news. This was a big part of my reason to switch to Aussie Farmers Direct. They can’t even guarantee all the milk they sell comes from Australian owned farms. Aussie Farmers can. Pass it on.
Gives new meaning to “I’m a Tokyo milk kid!:
Sayonara from Nara.

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On an interesting, but not entirely related point, maybe we should consider trademarking the name Canberra? It sounds ludicrous I know, but the state of Kentucky did the same thing a couple decades ago, which is (at least partly) why we now just have KFC and not Kentucky Fried Chicken, and why you will be unlikely to hear “Kentucky Woman” played on the radio.

Who knows? Maybe that’s Labor’s plan on keeping rates down this whole time, they’ll just make up the revenue from royalties.

Sykesy said :

Sykesy said :

Also, Murrumbidgee milk is owned by Fontera (new Zealand ) Pura Parmalat (Italian)????

And neither of them do anything for Canberra???

Don’t be dissing Parmalat! They have OAK, which sells! They’ve also got sale or return, which is handy sometimes. It would’ve been handy for DF Classic too, which always seemed to find its way into a bin sooner or later back when we ranged it……

c_c said :

JC said :

Whats the difference to before? Canberra Milk hasn’t been Canberra owned for a very long time, so using your theory it should have been renamed yonks ago to the generic Dairy Farmers brand.

Also the buy out is hardly new, it was a few years ago now.

Did you even bother to read the replies?

The Canberra Milk brand is still Canberra owned and by continuing to use it, the ACT retains a revenue stream from it.

If they make it generic Dairy Farmers, ACT loses that modest revenue.

Your clearly didn’t read my post properly, I said quite clearly using the same theory….

I prefer to buy my milk from a beer company, so I welcome this news. Beer companies know how to sell a worthwhile product and the Japanese have very low rates of bone fractures and oesteoporosis. Thus, by osmosis, I will too.

JC said :

Whats the difference to before? Canberra Milk hasn’t been Canberra owned for a very long time, so using your theory it should have been renamed yonks ago to the generic Dairy Farmers brand.

Also the buy out is hardly new, it was a few years ago now.

Did you even bother to read the replies?

The Canberra Milk brand is still Canberra owned and by continuing to use it, the ACT retains a revenue stream from it.

If they make it generic Dairy Farmers, ACT loses that modest revenue.

Whats the difference to before? Canberra Milk hasn’t been Canberra owned for a very long time, so using your theory it should have been renamed yonks ago to the generic Dairy Farmers brand.

Also the buy out is hardly new, it was a few years ago now.

Bummer – I thought I was at least buying Australian and keeping dairy farmers in business when I bought that.

It isn’t that easy to set up a dairy farm – let alone enough to feed the whole country, once we have sent them all broke and built units all over the land…. I think it is worthwhile to support Australian food production.

I do get Aussie Farmers milk – the milk is actually great, and I don’t mind paying a bit more for it to turn up at the doorstep.

Bulla icecream is still Aust owned and produced too – if you want to feel virtuous and get to eat icecreams.

Woody Mann-Caruso6:37 pm 18 Oct 12

im against foreign investment but expect foreigners to buy all our stuff look i drawed a picha with my own doody

screaming banshee5:51 pm 18 Oct 12

Insadentally

Word: TOKYOMILK
Image:
Lodgement Date: 03-OCT-2011
Notification Date: 17-NOV-2011
Convention Details: 06-APR-2011
85287295
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Registered From: 03-OCT-2011
Date of Acceptance: 28-NOV-2011
Acceptance Advertised: 01-DEC-2011
Registration Advertised: 15-MAR-2012
Entered on Register: 09-MAR-2012
Renewal Due: 03-OCT-2021
Class/es: 3, 4, 16
Status: Registered/Protected
Kind: n/a
Type of Mark: Word

Owner/s: Burwell Industries, Inc.
6890 South Emporia Street
Centennial, CO 80112
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Address for Service: Refer to WIPO Address for Correspondence

WIPO Address for Correspondence: Sabrina C. Stavish,
Sheridan Ross P.C.
1560 Broadway, Suite 1200
Denver CO 80202
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Goods & Services

Class: 3 Bar soap; bath soaps; beauty soap; bubble bath; hand cream; lip balm; lipstick; perfume

Class: 4 Candles

Class: 16 Greeting cards

screaming banshee5:50 pm 18 Oct 12

Word: CANBERRA MILK
Image:
Lodgement Date: 02-MAY-1990
Registered From: 02-MAY-1990
Date of Acceptance: 02-APR-1992
Acceptance Advertised: 16-APR-1992
Registration Advertised: 20-AUG-1992
Entered on Register: 06-AUG-1992
Renewal Due: 02-MAY-2017
Class/es: 29
Status: Registered/Protected
Kind: n/a
Type of Mark: Fancy
Owner/s:
The Crown in the Right of the Australian Capital Territory
ACT Government
Department of Treasury
GPO Box 158
CANBERRA ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA
Address for Service:
Davies Collison Cave
Level 15
1 Nicholson Street
MELBOURNE VIC 3000
AUSTRALIA

I am sure that I meant to say shore.

I find the contrast between public opinion of foreign involvement in mining and farming to be both hilarious and sad at the same time.

Compare:

Mining – Foreign company finances a largely automated process where a natural resource (dirt of one sort or another) is dug up then shipped overseas with little or no on sure processing. Foreigners get the material, the work of refining and making things from it, and the profit from its sale (after paying Australians to drive trucks and paying some tax).

Farming – Foreign company finances people to live on farm, raise cows, milk them, drive truck of milk to processing plant, be processed, packaged, labelled stocked in shop, purchased drunk, digested and the nutrients used to grow Australians. Foreigners get the profit from the sale (after paying all the people in that supply chain). Additionally, all those cows, milk processing plants and trucks all remain in Australia.

While I can see that some other forms of agriculture are a little different, cotton for example, or export beef, it still amazes me that people get so upset about something so renewable and impossible to take away as cows, yet seem to care little about something which, once gone, is gone.

Sykesy said :

I can assure you ‘Canberra Milk’ brand is owned by the ACT government & operated(under license) under the expert guidance of Capitol Chilled Foods. All of the Milk processed IS Australian owned. We are a joint venture company owned by Lion & Bega Cheese. We also assist numerous sporting bodies & charities, someone should vet these ridiculous posts that can be so damaging to the continuous support of said organisations in the future. Wake up to yourselves please.

Last time I checked, Australia generally allows free speech. How about you put your facts out there and trust that Canberrans will be intelligent enough to figure out the truth. Telling people who may be your customers to ‘wake up to yourselves’ can only do more harm than good. Don’t like what has been said, get your lawyers to contact Aussie Farmers Direct.

Ps. Where’s my Raiders Lime?

Sykesy said :

Also, Murrumbidgee milk is owned by Fontera (new Zealand ) Pura Parmalat (Italian)????

And neither of them do anything for Canberra???

Also, Murrumbidgee milk is owned by Fontera (new Zealand ) Pura Parmalat (Italian)????

I can assure you ‘Canberra Milk’ brand is owned by the ACT government & operated(under license) under the expert guidance of Capitol Chilled Foods. All of the Milk processed IS Australian owned. We are a joint venture company owned by Lion & Bega Cheese. We also assist numerous sporting bodies & charities, someone should vet these ridiculous posts that can be so damaging to the continuous support of said organisations in the future. Wake up to yourselves please.

As far as I’m aware, Kirin does not own ‘Canberra Milk’. They own the production side, but the trademarks for Canberra Milk remain ACT Government owned and are licenced, therefore still contributing money back into Canberra’s economy.

The actual milk hasn’t been from Canberra for years, but it still comes from Aussie farmers. So who really cares.

I DID swap to Aussie Farmers Direct, and were with them for a year or so (albeit paying a about 40% more than from a supermarket), but then moved to Fraser and for some reason it all went downhill, 3 times in 7 deliveries the milk was either in a broken container, under-delivered, or the final straw – not delivered at all, still waiting for the refund after cancelling…..

Here_and_Now3:12 pm 18 Oct 12

I thought it was called ‘Canberra Milk’ because of production location. I don’t think the milk now comes from Tokyo. It seems like a lot of trouble, and surely there are cows here.

Ahem. According to http://ethical.org.au (and this is the first time I’ve used this resource, so YMMV), Capitol Chilled Foods (the Canberra Milk people) is half-owned by Lion, who are in turn owned by Kirin. The other half is owned by Bega Cheese Ltd, who are Australian.

This would only worry me if they were marketing Minke Milk.

Sammy said :

The should rebrand it as Wagyu Milk. They’d sell a shed-load of it.

mmmm … beer-fed milk. Wouldn’t know whether to put it on corn flakes, or into a stubby holder.

miz said :

I cannot understand how so-called ‘market forces’ can be allowed to diddle our country out of our own food bowl.

Behead all those who diss the Free Market ™!

So I have been drinking Meerrlk all this time?

Affirmative Action Man said :

Couldn’t believe the carp that went on when Coles & Wollies dropped the price to $1 a litre – great for the consumer says I.

Horrible for the farmers.

If you’re inclined to care about which multinational owns the brand of milk you buy, may as well cut to the chase and buy direct from the farmer at the Epic market IMO…

You say gives new meaning to “I’m a Tokyo milk kid!” that is simply stupid.

I also enjoy that Brindabella has taken this email to be 100% accurate. Yet there are no links provided, no other information at all except for ‘Sayonara from Nara’. It is lacking in any credibility.

Not saying it couldn’t be true, but you should at least attempt to back up your now claims.

Madam Cholet2:24 pm 18 Oct 12

Is that you Barnaby?

Kirin own National Foods who in turn own Capital Chilled Foods, who produce Canberra Milk in Australia from Australian cows – and in my opinion is the worst tasting milk available here. If you need to be 100% Australian Try Riverina Milk – owned by ICM – Australian owned and a middle of the road price, available at Woolies – not as cheap as own brand (Parmalat/Pauls??), and not as expensive as the organic stuff.

But beware of Kirin, they own a lot so you may have to have a look at the other products that you buy.

Whilst you’re at it, maybe have a look at everything you eat and anything you own. Not much is Australian made and owned.

Seems a reliable source.

I assume the milk is still pretty much Australian, although I concede I have no knowledge of this industry, owned or otherwise. Australian companies have the same chances to buy as overseas ones do yet they didnt. Its interesting that the LNP is strident about foreign ownership but finds it hard to balance this with their let business run itself credo. How do you stop it without interfering in commercial transactions?

Anyone care to suggest what Australian companies have substantial overseas holdings? Should that be stopped too?

I heard that Aussie Farmers Direct is the name of a small village in Hunan Province China…

Affirmative Action Man2:14 pm 18 Oct 12

Have 3 kids & go through bucket loads of milk a week. Don’t give a rats where or who it comes from as long as its healthy & cheap.

Couldn’t believe the carp that went on when Coles & Wollies dropped the price to $1 a litre – great for the consumer says I.

The should rebrand it as Wagyu Milk. They’d sell a shed-load of it.

This is sad. I have continued to buy Canberra Milk despite the proliferation of cheaper brands as I thought I was supporting a local industry. I know I am still supporting local dairy farmers by doing this, but it is a disappointing state of affairs. I cannot understand how so-called ‘market forces’ can be allowed to diddle our country out of our own food bowl. I suspect countries such as Japan and China see Australia as very naive and a bit thick. Our food security policies certainly make us look this way.

I love the logic: a major part of the reason 95% of all milk brands in Australia are foreign owned is because Canberra Milk is owned by Kirin Corporation.

I’m not an expert on cause and effect, but I’d like to see more evidence on the idea that the ownership of Canberra Milk has a causal relationship with the nationality of the ownership of other Australian milk brands…

Please explain to me why I should care that Kirin owns Canberra Milk.

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