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It seems ludicrous we have the Pine Hill Dairy (PHD) with the capacity to produce fresh milk yet Andrew Bynoe has to spend scarce foreign exchange to satisfy local demand. Is there more to the story than meets the eye? The obvious observation is if milk is imported it can’t be fresh.

There has been tension between the PHD and the local milk farmers through the years. When PHD started to produce powdered milk at the expense of the local milk farmers, it served to heighten the tension.

To the point, fresh milk has one definition – that which comes directly from the udder of the cow without processing. Here is what BU family member ROK had to say about fresh milk on Facebook, “Fresh milk is that which you get directly from the animal without pasturisation or any other type of processing. Fresh milk will not last longer than a week (if so long) in your cooler. The milk which we imbibe from phd is not fresh milk. It may have been made from fresh milk.”

Why is Andrew Bynoe from Carlton and Emerald City Supermarkets being allowed to import milk which cannot be properly described as  ‘fresh milk’? Why is PHD being allowed by consumers and the Fair Trading Commission to produce fresh milk which is not fresh? Doesn’t the PHD have an obligation to be honest when marketing its products?


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  1. Chris I have heard others describe the taste as you have.

    Only a monopoly could have made such a change and foisted it on consumers.
    It is like they put LIME in de milk. pun intended.


  2. BAFBFP”If you knew what was contained in raw milk, lemetellya you would boil it dead dead dead.”

    an if you knew what they put in chicken feed and water you would double over cook it.

    Perhaps we should just accept that our “potential” lifespan will be foreshortened by the unhealthy food we choose to eat.

    Time to plant kitchen garden an keep some yardfowls.Remember to grow a pau pau tree to get natural tenderizer.


  3. But Hants I hope you also know that green pau pau could also drop you’ blood pressure so low so quickly that it could kill yah … be warned …!


  4. @BAFBFP,
    So how many times a week do you tink I gine be cookin yardfowl when Babadus always got fish fuh sale ann ef I aint got money I is a accomplished fisherman an could catch dem muhself.

    Tanks fuh de concern doh. Yuh is boy dat I like although sometimes I does can’t onstan yuh chinee philosophy.


  5. Hants

    My neighbor just recently brought in a African Grey parrot … (they learn to speak faster than any other bird) that he now keeps on his varanda in full view of the passing public. I find myself seeking up there at night very often trying to teach he how to cuss Black people … You like cooking yardfowls ..? Man you should try parrot ….!


  6. Hi guys seem like u all like plenty milk. Iwonder how many of u werebreast feedorbottle fed. Just asking?


  7. @ac I was wondering the same lol


  8. @Pat…thanks for sharing that…as far as I am concerned there is very little that we can buy from United States that has not been tampered with all manner of unhealthy stuff. Even their milk, because of their cows.

    To those with the ‘boil’ situation – yes in the Caribbean we tend to use the word ‘boil’ but I doubt that any real island person reading de comments would not realize that one ‘scalds’ milk…

    Love the 10 reasons why Bajans do not like the new PHD…just would like to point out (sorry, it could have just been a typo) that there is no such word as tasete, should have been tastes (but the idea was brilliant, those are 10 real good reasons!).

    It is correct to say that there is no necessity for milk…we can get calcium from so many things…but then there would no ice-cream (God! Forbid!) and so many other goodies not great for us but Lawd dem nice. I must say I have always felt sorry for lactose intolerant people…its like having allergies to great foods…harsh! But I still say in the old days people did not have all these allergies and intolerances…the only intolerant thing in those days might have been a neighbour.. or a member of one’s family. Perhaps just too much food with too much harmful substances within have the human body in a mess!

    Eat healthy, keep healthy! Everything in moderation.

    @David…perhaps Pine Hill Dairy should be made aware of this milk-a-thon, think they might show some milk of human kindness, and give Barbados back what it has always loved – the good milk, the fresh milk that spoils if left out of the refrigerator, the milk that tastes like real milk? Cheers!


  9. @ac and hottie,
    I have reason to believe I was breast fed. I will let you two figure out the basis of my belief. And I always liked milk too. lol


  10. @hottie
    I neva hav to worry bout my milk spoiling . My always fresh and good to go! Dees men don’t make sport. they really serious about they milk to a Tee. Look one even worry bout de temperature. Boiled or scaled! Lol! Bottle or Cartoon. ! Breast or Formula! Pasteurized ! Condensed or Evaporated! and don’t forget powdered.Cow or Goat!
    I wunda how de Bushman like he milk!


  11. @Hants
    I think you like chicken breast Too! and honourablemention must be given to thatlovely wife of yours Ummy .


  12. ac
    wah sum big men still bress-feed up ta dis day n i luv um. wah bout you? ya too badddddddd.
    de milk i drinkz doan cum from cow, sheep nor goat. and i hare dat it good fa sore throat too. i nevva had a sore throat in my adult life dat i cud rememba.
    Merci-me.

    CopperTop
    Ya is de baddest. I luv dat original 10. PHD betta tek note from you 10. doan mind how you spell ‘taste’. dah is ta captur dem attenshun man. I ondastan. Ya swoiteeee.


  13. @Bonny Peppa
    PHD better becareful because the BU men have taken the milk problem to a high level. Now PHD.listen UP! you better get this milk problem corrected quickly before BU men take this matter into their own hands. BU men you can always suck on PACIFIER. Yuh know them things Mothers give to dem children to stop them from crying. OH DEAR! I wonder if i could help all yuh wunna! Gimme my milk!


  14. AS you know milk contains the disaccharide lactose. Heating milk has no real effect on lactose. Lactose is processed in the body by the enzyme lactase and converted to glucose and its isomer galactose.

    Lactose is essential for all babies. They get energy from the glucose and the galactose is necessary for its role in making a special type of lipid that covers the myelin sheaths in the nerves in the brain. So babies must have thier milk.

    After they are weaned, and their brains are sufficiently developed mammals do not need milk at all, because they can convert glucose to its isomer galactose for any galactose it needs.

    Milk also containd proteins which can be denatured by boiling; hence we only heat milk to a temperature or a time period which we have learned by experience not to denature the proteins in milk . Besides looking badly, such denatured proteins is not a problem.
    Can you remember that we used to denature milk when we poured a small tin of Carnation milk into a red JuC or vice versa. The milk used to floculate or precipitate. The acid from the carbon dioxide used to attach the cap used to denature the milk.
    Some folk had the art of doing this mixture with out the precipitation happening.
    As a physician I teach that BREAST MILK IS BEST FOR ALL BABIES. The milk comes at the best temperature, and in some of the loviliest of containers.

    On a lighter note……I have been misquoted and accused of telling some one in clinic “that breast is best for all men irregardless to age” and to have told another person to “give the bubby to the hubby!”

    Not guilty on both counts!


  15. GP I figured you would be the breast man to explain the science..lol
    I does misspell sometimes.


  16. Good pun Hants! Lol!


  17. ‘ just get the idea to package Pasteurized milk in double D shaped containers …


  18. @BFBFP

    How about containers that shaped like breast and instead of pouring themilk Yuh guys can suck from the nipple! Label it “Unadulterated Breast Milk”


  19. BAFBFP
    Chawwwwwwwww, double D containers? dem containers rale big man. dah is rale, rale milk. i got, evva had small containers. up ta when i dun school, i din even get na containers yet. only afta my firs born i find two lil containers wid milk. but doan get fool by de size, dem containers supply milk til my firsborn was 3yrs old.and so on n so on.

    ac
    of course men still suck on a pacifier. I mek sure mine alwayz fresh n ready fa de suckin. you could even sprinkle lil Johnson’s baby powder pun ya pacifier. try um n see.

    ‘give de bubby to de hubby’
    Lawddddddddddddd, i luv um. tell me bout ummmm.


  20. andrew bynoe could have an arrangement with the small farmers to buy their milk. i think we have too much of a plantation society working in barbados. we are very slow to change that which we have grown accustom and PHD is acting like the white plantation owners of yesteryear that is, they would make sure that the small farmer DOES NOT profit from them rather they would MAKE SURE that it is a white man in the big country that deserves the profits but never the small man. andrew bynoe is also pushing this by not looking to the small farmer


  21. @smooth chocolate et al…

    This thread was started because a friend of mine forwarded me (and several others) a link to a Nation “News” article which documented that PHD was complaining to the Government that Andrew Bynoe was *daring* to import a product which consumers wanted. I forwarded this to BU.David.

    I agree that Andrew Bynoe could negotiate with local farmers for truly fresh milk, and then process it for consumer purchase consumption.

    But, that’s a non-trivial process. And there’s legal exposure in doing so. Far safer for Bynoe to import from an ISO certified provider.

    Coming back to my friend — he was so disgusted with the “new” PHD product that he (being the industrious fellow he is) contacted a few local farms for a supply of truly fresh milk, and began pasteurising it himself for himself and a few friends.

    Word got out, and his e-mail in-box was overflowing and his phone wouldn’t stop ringing…

    (Note that he had to contact more than a few local farms, because apparently PHD have contractual exclusive access to all milk produced at many farms. (I might suggest that the FTC investigate, but, then, why bother asking? The FTC were castrated soon after the day they were born.))

    At the end of the day, the empirical evidence is that the consumer is not happy with the product being provided by the monopoly PHD.

    But rather than respond to consumer complaints, the monopoly appeals to the government to protect them.

    Same old. Same old…

    Hmmmm….

  22. Not hard to understand Avatar
    Not hard to understand

    And in that time there was a place of milk as if from the cow, and the juice of the fruit, as the honey is to the bee and the wheat UNTO the locust, there UPON the Hill of the Pine.

    But the owner of the Hill of the Pine DIDST spake thus unto the multitudes, saying: I AM the Lord thy god, and thou SHALT have no other source of MILK before me.

    And thus it was written in THE Press Release (14: 5) that the milk of the Hill of Pine WAS as good, and there shall be NO milks before it. And the Lord of the Hill DID say unto the multitudes: IF thou triest to buy OTHER milk, I SHALL complain to the gubment an evertink.

    And thus it was.

    Dis de word o de lor.


  23. But then came finally came a time when the collective consumer realized that *they* were actually the king.

    The day when they finally realized that their word; their say; their wishes; (or, at least, their dollar;) was finally acknowledged as the deciding factor.

    It was a glorious moment!!!

    (Sadly, I’m speaking in the future (but not un-imaginable) tense.)


  24. Hi Jackie B – aka Not hard to understand
    I have noticed your business is “language” evidenced by your interjections here, perhaps you are not very “busy” since you waste your great talent on us little people.


  25. “The FTC were castrated soon after the day they were born”

    True enough my friend but maybe it might put a slighted different slant if you had said

    “The FTC were contracted soon after the day they were born”

    What you have said Chris throws a completely different light on this foolishness. Ladies and Gentlemen, Andrew Bynoe (who almost single handedly must claim responsibility for a renewed interest in Pork in Barbados) is NOT the offender here …!


  26. BTW
    Andrew Bynoe has a wonderful history with Pine Hill Dairy. Cast your memories back about fifteen years.

    Andrew got a number of Supermarkets together in refusing to take product from PHD claiming that it was unnecessarily pushing the price of its juices up. This caused sales of PHD product to plummet, a situation that opened the door to a series of events that quickly led to its take over by Banks Holdings (completely against the run of play).

    Allan Fields, CEO of Banks Holdings and Chairman of the NIS, which happened to be the single largest local share holder, played them all like puppets (including CO Willaims at the time Chair of PHD, and who was fired a week after the take-over was completed). This was the first time that Barbados was exposed to the concept of a Share Swap, (not to be confused with a Credit Default Swap) at a time when the GOB could have made good use of the US dollars that would have flowed in had a reputable Trinidadian concern won the bid … fairly!


  27. @BAFBFP…

    Sounds to me that Andrew Bynoe should be listened to.

    And that perhaps some don’t want him to be heard.


  28. Wunna men ain’t got nuttin to but too wuury wuuna slf about dat Pine hill bad tasting milk. If it was me fuh sure I won’t be worry about dat milk . Instead I would be making good use of my girlfreind or wivfey double or triples. Yuh guys full of shi…t. Wunna relly making me laugh. Natures WAy ! the best Way! Yuh need to listen to de Doc advice , Nuh lie he telling! A bunch of Foolburts!


  29. @AC: “Wunna men ain’t got nuttin to but too wuury wuuna slf about dat Pine hill bad tasting milk.

    Hey — I was just being me. You pulled the trigger to a message which meant nothing.

    Gentlemen.

    Shall we continue this conversation while the ladies bitch?


  30. @CH
    Sorry! The comment intended forMEN. That does not include CH


  31. Let us keep the discussion going. BU’s concern remains the small dairy producers who have been perennially screwed by PHD.


  32. @BU.David: “Let us keep the discussion going. BU’s concern remains the small dairy producers who have been perennially screwed by PHD.

    Then keep the dialogue going….

    Keep asking the important questions.

    It’s not that hard….


  33. Richard Hoad pasteurizes his own goat’s milk in house and packages it quite conveniently in two tone plastic containers with all of the necessary literature printed. Perhaps now is the time for the smaller farmers to take advantage of the opening and build a plant that similar to Hoad’s, and a product that is similarly packaged. This will take the two jackasses at Pine Hill with their high tech fetishes, down a peg or two; they would have gifted the pasteurize milk market to small farmers. Consumers may be asked to pay a bit more for the product, but so what, compared to the alternative, it would be a premium product …. no?


  34. Here is a question…

    After PHD’s pleading to the government, can consumers still buy what they desire from Emerald City and Carton Supermarkets?

    Will consumers be able to buy what they want next week?

    Next month?

    Next year?


  35. Very sterile David and lacking substance. Mr. Gibson is thinking that people will sacrifice quality and nutrition for convenience. Only a fool would make that choice. Which poor man buys 12 cartons of milk at a time. Joke. Who is he catering to?

    What does he mean that the facebook comments are all over the place? Such a stupid remark. What was that remark intended to prove? That he was unable to collate the comments on FB and make sense out of them? That speaks to his intelligence and not that of the commenters.

    Contrary to his assertion, there are absolutely no benefits to prolonging the health life except to deliver a thoroughly corrupted and defiled product to consumers; and you know what? Talk what he likes, I am sure the PHD is feeling the lack of sales.


  36. You are correct ROK.

    All effort at cost management by PHD must be balanced with customer’s expectation of quality. There is no doubt the consumer has become agitated about PHD products, not only the milk but the juices as well.

    Can somebody email this link to the marketing manager please?


  37. Facebook comment all over the place ? He must be blind 90% of them is tell him the milk is bad and we want the old milk back. As for the cartons I really don’t care. The packaging in this case isn’t important, the product inside is.


  38. Consumers today are treated like cattle. The PHD marketing dept believes in ambush marketing and figured that Bajans are like stupid cows. They will buy, drink and eat what is put in front of them and there will be no choice allowed. I would think that before any business taking on such any big capital venture, would test the market to see whether the market would be favourable or not. The decision makers at PHD read the market research incorrectly ( if they did any at all). They will pay the price. And to think they are not even apologetic at all and attempt to give the customers what they want. PHD has redefined FRESH MILK for Barbados. Something is really wrong here.


  39. I think that consumers shop accordingly. If lettuce is $1 a head, would you buy 365 heads so you would have fresh lettuce all year round? Why does he not go out on Sunday and buy 7 newspapers so he don’t have to buy anymore for the week?

    These people trying to fly in the face of the Creator. The Creator made milk to last in a wholesome form for a specific period. They want to make it longer. There is a price to pay for flying in the face of nature…

    and because the developed world doing it don’t make it right. Just that one jackass follow another and another and another in the name of profit. These people are sacrificing our health so they can make super profits. We talking about an aging population because the young ones dying fast. When will we wake up and smell fresh coffee rather than this instant thing that killing we?


  40. Oh Islandgirl! So well said.


  41. Oh Lord that video just identify the two jackasses at Pine Hill. My problem with one of them (Gibson) is that he is an engineer by training … Oh shite man, he like Allan Fields, has been letting the side down fah years ….!

    The other accountant guy is just a beer swilling jackass…


  42. If I hadda known dah vidia had somet’ing tah do wid Ian (fat arse) Bonehead I would ah lef’ it right dey …. I feel David jus’ ambush market me …!


  43. David Lavine was an aggressive marketer. Banks replace most of the key players wid White people. I like Bernie, very good tennis player, but he nor de Indo-chinee Chee-a-Tow could hold a torch to Lavine …


  44. @BAFBFP

    Man why you say that? Leave it to viewers to see who fussy with their sterile video. Wonder whose idea the video was? Pine Hill Dairy clears the air? More like they put their feet in their mouths.


  45. Does it matter who did the video?

    It was on youtube and relevant.


  46. “Does it matter who did the video?”

    How yah mean … Size matters …! Tah much bone, too little head …!


  47. LOL!!!!!!


  48. What is the conclusion to this matter? Consumer (collective voice and purse) will not buy milk from PHD until we are given fresh fresh milk!!!


  49. @ BAFBFP

    “Ian Bourne | November 13, 2010 at 9:49 AM |
    I have no problem with it, whether they call it fresh or UHT or what makes no diff to me – I use it on its own or with coffee/cooking, etc. I have heard those who can afford are going back to DFB: Direct From Bovine – super for them, but I think it’s all just Tomas in a milk carton?”

    Wait, what do you expect. He got the $ for making the video and probably some free cartons to sample, thus his post above.

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