Why doesn't Canada make its own baby formula when we have the raw ingredients?

If infant formula has become akin to liquid gold for parents stressed about empty store shelves this year, Canada may be sitting on a potential treasure trove -- if only it could process the raw elements.

If infant formula has become akin to liquid gold for parents stressed about empty store shelves this year, Canada may be sitting on a potential treasure trove -- if only it could process the raw elements.

There is a surplus of the main ingredient for infant formula, but without processing capacity, dairy producers say a lot of it is either going to waste or being sold on the cheap as animal feed.

The material, called solids non-fat, is basically what is left over from raw cows' milk once it has been processed and the fat removed for use in other products such as butter.

"There's relatively more demand for butter fat than solids non-fat," said Mathieu Frigon, the president of the Dairy Processors Association Of Canada.

"You cannot tell a cow, 'Only produce butter fat, but no solids non-fat."'

As a result, about 19 per cent of what is produced in Canada is considered surplus. It is either thrown away, sold to "low-value" markets as animal feed, or donated to food banks, the Canadian Dairy Commission said in a statement.

That problem has only become worse over the last five or six years, Frigon said, as demand for butter fat has gone up and demand for the leftovers has not.