Dubai plans to milk West's health food market with Camelicous treat

The camels know the drill by heart. Just after dawn, they file on their own, always in groups of 12, into metal stalls for milking. Workers attach automated pumps. The milk flows into a system of chilled pipes that empty into a sealed metal vat.

The next stop soon could be markets in Europe under ambitious plans backed by Dubai's ruler to expand the reach of the playfully eccentric brand name Camelicious.

European Union health regulators cleared the United Arab Emirates in July to become the first major exporter of camel milk products to the 27-nation bloc. The first batches of powdered camel milk could be heading to European shelves next year.

"We know this isn't what you'd call a mainstream product in the West," said David Wernery, legal adviser for the Camelicious brand, whose parent company goes by the more staid name of Emirates Industry for Camel Milk & Products. "We're thinking about health food stores and alternative markets. It's probably going to be a niche thing at first."

It would be something of a coming-out party for the small but passionate community that describes camel milk in awed tones. It has at least three times more vitamin C than cow's milk and is considered an alternative for the lactose-intolerant. Researchers have studied possible roles for camel milk in fighting bacteria, tumours and diabetes.

For Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a Camelicious foothold in Europe would mark a pet project growing up.

Mr Wernery's veterinarian father, Ulrich, made a pitch about a camel dairy to Sheik Mohammed a decade ago.

"I told him, `You race camels. Why not milk them?"' said the elder Wernery. He created a small pilot dairy in 2000 with about a dozen camels outside Dubai. Three years later, Sheik Mohammed called. He was ready to finance the dairy.

David Wernery and his mother cooked up the name Camelicious. Their initial worry: That the "normal customer" might find camel milk, well, "disgusting". "Hopefully (this was] negated by the reference to delicious," he said.

The company, which began operations in 2006, quickly stood out on the dairy shelves with its logo: a bug-eyed cartoon camel with violet-hued sunglasses. And new flavours were added - now up to chocolate, saffron, date, strawberry. Its official corporate image, a camel silhouette under a sliver moon, is on its other products, including camel milk chocolates and laban, a traditional yogurt drink.

Then there is the taste. The milk from camels eating the desert brush can have a slightly salty flavour. The Camelicious herd gets hay and treats of carrots and dates, all of which all serve to soften the taste for more Western palates.

"They eat anything," said David Wernery.

"They are very, very easy going. And smart, too."

The 700 camels being milked at the Camelicious dairy on Dubai's outskirts give about 1,321 gallons a day. Some is bottled for local markets, and smaller amounts are freeze-dried into a just-add-water powder for chocolate production. This is also how Camelicious plans to ship to the European market.