Controversial south-west farmer Swampy Marsh — nice handle — has opened up another front in his battle with bureaucracy, this time over his sale of raw unpasteurised milk to Melbourne farmers’ markets and health food shops.

Mr Marsh is challenging Dairy Food Safety Victoria to take him to court over his refusal to comply with the new licence conditions that require raw milk to be treated in a manner that deters people from drinking it.

Mr Marsh said he was selling the raw milk for cosmetic use and it was not his concern if people drank it.

“Once they buy it, they can do what they like with it,” he said.

The new licence conditions, which require raw milk suppliers to change its taste, texture or aroma to deter human consumption, were introduced following the death of a three-year-old child on the Mornington Peninsula last December after consuming raw milk.

Four other children, aged between one and five, also became ill after drinking raw milk late last year.

But Mr Marsh claimed the child who died had terminal cancer and the death had “nothing to do with milk.”

Dr Rosemary Lester, who was the Victorian chief health officer at the time of the child’s death, said the child died from hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which affects the kidneys and the bloodstream.

Mr Marsh said he sold about 1,000 litres of raw milk each week to Melbourne outlets, such as farmers’ markets and organic food groups.

The raw milk came from two milk producers in the south-west, he said.

It was a sideline to his sales in Melbourne of organic eggs and other grades of eggs, Mr Marsh said.

He had been selling the raw milk in Melbourne for about 20 years and “drinking it for about 65 years”, he said.