When will domestic milk be safe to drink?

The latest data from the Dairy Association of China is embarrassing——China's milk production currently ranks third in the world, yet imported dairy products account for nearly one third of China's total dairy consumption. Why do consumers keep “carrying milk back from overseas”? When will domestic milk be safe to drink? How many hurdles must Chinese people clear before they drink Chinese milk?

Mr. Ding's choice represents the mindset of a considerable number of consumers today. Although some countries impose purchase limits on infant formula, and even check “birth certificates,” many young parents in China's first-tier cities are still trying every means to find overseas purchasing agents, and overseas online shopping for all kinds of dairy products remains booming.

Although China is a major milk-producing country, it is also a major dairy-importing country. Statistics provided by the Dairy Association of China show that more than 200 million jin of milk are sold on the Chinese market every day. The milk powder and dairy products imported each year, converted into milk, amount to about 12 million tons, accounting for about one third of the country's dairy consumption.

It is worth noting that after the 2008 melamine incident, imports of “foreign milk” increased markedly. Data show that China's imported milk powder surged from 140,000 tons in 2008 to 1.05 million tons in 2014, a more than 7-fold increase in 6 years. And in the mid- to high-end infant formula market, the share held by foreign brands has increased somewhat.

“Why are consumers so keen on ‘carrying milk back from overseas’? Mainly because after the melamine incident, consumers still lack confidence in the quality of ‘domestic milk.’” Senior dairy analyst Song Liang said in response.

“The 2008 melamine incident dealt a comprehensive and systemic blow to China's dairy industry, and for consumers it showed up as distrust of domestic milk, which has not been eliminated to this day.” Gao Hongbin, president of the Dairy Association of China, said.

“I used to buy imported shelf-stable milk; a 250-milliliter carton of imported milk cost about seven or eight yuan. Now, for long-term drinking, I still buy low-temperature milk from brands such as Sanyuan and Bright, because I know they are agricultural reclamation brands with their own milk sources, and at more than two yuan a carton, it is affordable.” Beijing resident Ms. Jia said.

To this day, 7 years have passed since the melamine incident, and the national dairy industry has gone through a long “ice age.” However, various signs show that after the melamine incident, China's dairy industry raised the curtain on comprehensive transformation, domestic dairy products have continuously gained international recognition, consumer acceptance of domestic milk has improved somewhat, and the “ice age” is expected to “thaw.”

⟦NL> “At present, the proportion of large-scale pasture farming in China is close to 50%, a sharp increase from 7 years ago, and the pace of industry transformation and upgrading has accelerated. The milk quality of some large domestic dairy groups has reached the international advanced level. It can be said that this is now the best period for China's dairy industry development since the melamine incident.” Li Shengli, chief scientist of the National Dairy Cattle Industry Technology System, said.

The reporter learned that Modern Farming's liquid milk and Feihe's infant formula won gold awards this year at the World Food Quality Evaluation Conference, while Junlebao's infant formula passed the Global Food Safety Standard (BRC) A+ certification. In Junlebao's Tmall “Double 11” event last year and this year's “618” event, domestic milk powder sales surpassed foreign brands for the first time.

“Judging by quality and safety indicators, some of China's dairy indicators are not lower than those of Europe and the United States. In terms of milk protein content, most Chinese milk is greater than 3.0%, similar to milk in developed countries.” Wang Dingmian, former executive director of the Dairy Association of China and a senior dairy expert, said.

According to Wang Dingmian, since the melamine incident, the state's regulation of the dairy industry has been greatly strengthened. The Ministry of Agriculture began implementing raw milk quality and safety monitoring in 2009 for 7 consecutive years. Monitoring data show that in 2014 the total bacterial count of raw milk from large-scale pastures in China was 173,000 per milliliter, with some enterprises below 20,000 per milliliter, far better than the EU standard of 500,000 per milliliter.

Experts point out that although the overall quality of domestic dairy products has improved somewhat, safety hazards still exist. To let more Chinese people drink Chinese milk, multiple thresholds such as quality and cost must be crossed.

“Quality is the lifeline of the dairy industry. We must ensure dairy quality and safety by implementing enterprises' primary responsibility, with the strictest supervision, the harshest rules, and the most serious accountability.” Wang Dingmian said.

The reporter learned that in order to seek a breakthrough while surrounded by “foreign milk,” domestic milk brands have firmly grasped the quality barrier and worked to save and strengthen themselves. Modern Farming has advanced the integration of the industrial chain from self-cultivation, self-breeding, self-production and self-sales, achieving seamless links at every stage with no distance between them, and completing the process from raw milk extraction to finished product processing within 2 hours; Mengniu Selected Pasture Milk established a “traceable +” strategy, becoming the first in the global dairy industry to apply “one package, one code” technology to achieve precise traceability; and many dairy enterprises such as Yili, Bright and New Hope accelerated the layout of overseas high-quality milk sources.

Second, it is necessary to promote large-scale operations, reduce costs, and promote a reasonable return of domestic milk prices.

“When quality is comparable, price is the decisive factor for consumers voting with their feet. At present, China's milk production costs are significantly higher than those of developed countries, so large-scale, intensive and standardized farming must be achieved to reduce costs and ultimately lower consumer prices.” Dong Xiaoxia, associate researcher at the Institute of Information of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, suggested.

Judging from the experience of regions with developed dairy industries, whether New Zealand, the United States, or Europe, dairy cattle farming is mainly large-scale farming, with a very small proportion of household free-range farming. Although China has reversed the “small, scattered, low” farming situation in recent years, with the proportion of farming of more than 100 head reaching more than 45%, the proportion of traditional free-range farming is still more than half, which both brings hidden dangers to quality and safety and is not conducive to reducing costs.

“We must persist in grasping production development with one hand and quality and safety supervision with the other. We must strengthen variety improvement, quality enhancement and brand creation, advance large-scale, intensive, standardized and industrialized operations, and build an integrated development model of breeding, farming and processing.” Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture, said.

Experts say that fundamentally, only by achieving the “dual improvement” of dairy quality and industrial competitiveness can consumer confidence be boosted, the impact of “foreign milk” be resisted at the root, and more Chinese people be enabled to drink Chinese milk.