A Queensland dairy has just received Safe Food accreditation to sell pasteurised camel milk to the public from their Sunshine Coast farm.

The creamy milk tastes similar to cow's milk, but has a slightly saltier aftertaste, and is higher in vitamins C and B6 as well as iron.

But getting a camel to let you milk it is just as tricky as it sounds, according to QCamel managing director Lauren Brisbane.

"They've sat on an island for hundreds of years so they don't have a learned history of milking so we have to train them," she said.

"It's a lot more time consuming, you've got to work with both the mother and the baby."

Ms Brisbane said a lot of love and patience is needed to train the animals and that, with a relatively low yield, camel milk does not come cheap.

"We have double the production costs because we look after a baby, we leave the babies on the mother for a couple of years," she said.

"Our market price is $25 a litre and that's consistent around the world."

Former office worker Sue Beattie became a camel milker at the farm after responding to an advertisement looking for people to work with "large animals" in the local paper.

"They're a really lovely animal to work with, every camel has a name and every camel has a different personality," she said.

But Ms Beattie's new job has raised some eyebrows among her friends.

"They think that I'm just making it up because no one's ever heard of milking a camel before. It's quite a strange thing, so they are very surprised."

Strong local demand despite high price

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation has recognised camel milk as a nutritious resource of "massive" potential.

Camel dairies are a growing industry in Africa and the Middle East. In the US, camel milk can sell up to $US40 a litre at health food stores.

But even at such a high price, Queensland farmer Lauren Brisbane said there was strong demand.

"We've got a waiting list of people because it's such a healthy milk and because it has such great results. There's a lot of people waiting for it," she said.

Sorry, this video has expired Qld farmer puts camel's milk on the breakfast table

There is one other small camel dairy in Western Australia which operates out of a shed in the Perth Hills.

With an estimated 750,000 wild camels roaming Australia's deserts, farmers hope the industry will take off.

The new Sunshine Coast dairy has allowed local Maleny cheese maker Markus Bucher to produce Australia's first camel cheese.

"Camel milk is extremely healthy ... I think it's a very interesting project, camel's milk in Australia," Mr Bucher said.

Dubai is the only other country to produce camel cheese, and it comes with some challenges.

So far Mr Bucher has managed to perfect camel curd but said he has grand plans for expansion.

"I would like to make a 'camelbert' ... you know camel camembert, so I would like to make a 'camelbert' next" he said.

Camel milk has higher concentrations of some vitamins

Simone Austin from the Dieticians Association of Australia said camel milk has higher concentrations of some vitamins and minerals.

"That might be because in arid areas fruit and veggies don't grow a lot so that might be a natural thing that's acquired in the camel's milk to provide for the young," Ms Austin said.

"It's higher in vitamin C and also a little bit higher in vitamin B6 which is niacin - particularly important for energy production. It's also a bit higher in iron."

Ms Austin said there was also small-scale research being conducted to investigate the impact of camel milk on insulin levels to help manage diabetes.

Camel's milk vs cow's milk Higher in vitamin C

Higher in vitamin C Higher in vitamin B6

Higher in vitamin B6 Higher in iron

Higher in iron Lower in lactose

"We would really welcome some more research in this area ... but there isn't enough yet to say that it does have an effect," she said.

Ms Brisbane said many of her clients buy the milk in the hope it may help learning disorders.

"A lot of people around the world have utilised it for their children or people with Autism," she said.

But Ms Austin said more evidence is still needed.

"Anything that says it has something that is too good to be true ... it probably is," she said.

But both agree there is no added health benefits of drinking raw - or unpasteurised - camel milk, which is illegal in Australia.

Ms Brisbane said she studied the nutritional benefits of both types of camel milk before the dairy was approved to sell pasteurised milk.

"I've actually tested pasteurised and unpasteurised milk; and there's been quite a lot of tests done around the world to see if there's any significant difference between the two, and there's not."

The fresh camel milk will be sold direct to the public in the coming weeks.