Azores Situation Report Wednesday 16th October 2024

Azorean donkey milk exported for human consumption and cosmetic products

Asinus Atlânticus: a company born out of chance that produces more than 100 litres of donkey milk per day for the United States, Romania, the Czech Republic and France.

The product is in demand due to its similarity to breast milk. “It is the closest thing to breast milk that exists in nature, with a protein profile that is almost 100% identical. This gives it unique characteristics, not only in terms of nutrition, but also in terms of cosmetics. As for nutrition, it is a hypoallergenic milk, and its benefits for the respiratory system are widely known. Older people will all remember that donkey milk was used to treat whooping cough. After Covid, consumption soared, especially in markets in northern Europe.

In the Middle Ages, alongside orphanages, there were always large asylums that allowed newborns who were left on wheels to be fed. It is this culture that we are recovering with a large national study that we will begin next year. As for cosmetics, just talk about Cleopatra and her daily beauty bath in the milk obtained from the milking of 100 donkeys. In fact, donkey milk stimulates the production of collagen in the skin and this was Cleopatra’s empirical secret, which the cosmetics industry has now recovered”, says the businessman who laments all the contingencies of insularity in the export of the product. “Distance is a factor that has enormous costs, not only in getting the product to customers but also in contact with them. These are all extra costs that are not properly supported. A true export policy must be based on this reality.

Civil Protection carries out exercise today to test evacuation in Cinco Ribeiras

The Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service of the Azores (SRPCBA), in partnership with the Municipality of Angra do Heroísmo and the Parish Council of Cinco Ribeiras, on Terceira Island, is carrying out this Tuesday, at 6 pm, the BASALTO 24.4 exercise, with the aim of training the evacuation of the parish.

This exercise “will simulate the need to evacuate the parish of Cinco Ribeiras, in the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo”.

Through this simulation, the Civil Protection of the Azores intends to train the “procedures and means necessary for evacuation with the participation of the local population, the coordination and response of the entities involved and the reception in the Population Concentration and Support Zones (ZCAP)”.

BASALTO 24.4 is part of the quarterly exercises that the SRPCBA develops throughout the year, this time it will take place in the LIVEX (Live Exercise) mode, that is, with the movement of resources and operators on the ground and, for the first time, will involve the direct participation of the population, explains the press release.

The BASALTO 24.4 exercise also includes the participation of the Municipal Council of Praia da Vitória, the Fire Departments of Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória, the Regional Directorate of Health, the Regional Directorate of Public Works, the Portuguese Red Cross, the Public Security Police, the National Republican Guard, the Port Authority of Angra and the Social Security Institute of the Azores.