How can the dairy industry interest chain be connected? Guiding quality consumption is key
--Focusing on the Ministry of Agriculture's new standards for regulating reconstituted milk
"Pure milk can also be made by mixing milk powder with water? Surely not!" In a large supermarket in Beijing, the reporter randomly interviewed Ms. Han, who had come to buy pure milk. Regarding the issue of reconstituted milk, she said she was not clear about it.
Reconstituted milk, also called recombined milk, refers to dairy products made by subjecting fresh milk to high-temperature sterilization and drying to produce milk powder, then mixing it with a certain proportion of water or milk to reduce it back to liquid milk. According to Chinese regulations, recombined milk must be labeled prominently on the product packaging. In plain terms, reconstituted milk is milk made by mixing and reducing milk powder.
In recent years, attention within the dairy industry to the detection and labeling of reconstituted milk has never ceased. In order to strengthen supervision over illegal addition of reconstituted milk, the Ministry of Agriculture recently revised the standard "Identification of Reconstituted Milk in Pasteurized Milk and UHT Sterilized Milk." The new standard uses furosine and lactulose as the core detection indicators and was officially implemented on April 1.
Compared with pure milk made by directly sterilizing raw fresh milk, how is reconstituted milk different? What impact will the new standard issued by the Ministry of Agriculture have on the dairy industry's
development? How can the national dairy industry be fundamentally revitalized and the interests of dairy farmers protected? Recently, the reporter interviewed experts related to the dairy industry and heads of dairy enterprises.
Focus on the standard: Determining whether reconstituted milk is present based on furosine and lactulose content
From raw fresh milk to bulk milk powder, and then rehydrated into recombined milk, from an external morphological perspective, reconstituted milk is nothing more than the product of raw fresh milk being solidified and then liquefied again. But the facts are not so simple.
The reason milk is hailed as the most nutritious food is not only that it contains fat, protein, vitamins and other nutrients, but more importantly that milk contains bioactive substances needed for human life, which play an important role in human growth and development and in improving immunity.
Bioactive substances have extremely stringent requirements for their living environment. If subjected to high-temperature sterilization, their activity will be greatly reduced. The reason pasteurized milk is generally accepted by consumers worldwide is precisely that it uses the mildest heat processing method, which can maximize the inactivation of pathogenic bacteria while retaining bioactive substances.
Raw fresh milk can be processed into pure milk through pasteurization or ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization (UHT), while reconstituted milk, after being rehydrated, must undergo at least one more heat sterilization before it can become a terminal product that can be put on the market. Therefore, overall, the nutritional value of reconstituted milk is inferior to milk processed directly from raw fresh milk as a raw material.
How can it be determined whether milk contains reconstituted milk? It can be determined by measuring the content of furosine and lactulose.
Furosine and lactulose are both by-products produced during the heat processing of milk. In raw fresh milk, their content is extremely low and is not affected by changes in cow breed or raising environment. In heat-processed dairy products, the content of furosine and lactulose will increase greatly. The stronger the degree of heat-processing damage, the higher the corresponding content, and the worse the milk quality. Therefore, internationally, the content of these two substances is generally used as a sensitive indicator reflecting the degree of heat processing of milk.
The standard introduced this time is based precisely on this: by measuring the content of furosine and lactulose in raw fresh milk, pasteurized milk, UHT sterilized milk and milk powder, it can be determined whether milk powder has been added to pasteurized milk and ambient milk.
In fact, as early as 2005, the Notice on Strengthening the Management of Liquid Milk Production and Operation issued by the General Office of the State Council already clearly required that reconstituted milk must not be added in the production of pasteurized milk, and that in the production and processing of sterilized milk, yogurt and other products, if reconstituted milk is used, regardless of the quantity, "reconstituted milk" must be prominently labeled, and the proportion of reconstituted milk among raw materials must be truthfully indicated in the product ingredient list.
"Restricted by factors such as technical means, management systems and the low quality of raw milk, although the policy was introduced long ago, it could not be implemented for a long time." Chen Yu, a dairy expert at the Ministry of Agriculture Management Cadre College, believes that in the past, technically it was impossible to accurately judge the degree of heat treatment of milk by testing corresponding indicators, and it was impossible to detect whether reconstituted milk was present. The identification standard introduced this time is specific and strict, technically refines the intensity standard for heat processing, and fills this gap.
Regulating the market: Safeguarding the rule of high quality at a high price and preventing bad money from driving out good money
Regarding the Ministry of Agriculture's introduction of new standards to supervise the detection and labeling of reconstituted milk, the industry generally believes that this move is mainly out of consideration for protecting the national animal husbandry and dairy industries, connecting the upstream and downstream interest linkage mechanism, and enhancing the competitiveness of the national dairy industry.
In the past, due to the lack of detection standards and means, some dairy enterprises would not clearly label reconstituted milk on packaging even if they produced it. On the one hand, consumers lacked understanding of quality milk; on the other hand, they could not judge milk quality, and their product choices were relatively blind, depending more on factors such as advertising and price.
"In the market, the rule of high quality at a high price has been broken, and when applied to the industry, it has created a 'bad money drives out good money' effect. Dairy enterprises that have advantages in the upstream breeding segment and are committed to producing quality milk have not received sufficient returns," said Gao Lina, chairman and president of Modern Farming (Group) Co., Ltd.
Adopting a "zero-distance integration" model, Modern Farming minimizes redundant links in milk processing to the greatest extent, ensuring pure freshness, and has won the gold award at the World Food Quality Evaluation Conference for three consecutive years. But on the dazzling dairy product shelves of shopping malls and supermarkets, Modern Farming's quality milk is placed together with reconstituted milk produced by some dairy enterprises, leaving consumers unable to choose. Therefore, Gao Lina has always hoped that the state could effectively supervise the production and labeling of reconstituted milk. Regarding the Ministry of Agriculture's revision of the identification standard this time, she expressed enthusiastic approval, believing that this move is an important measure in the supply-side structural reform of the dairy industry and a signal released to promote the improvement of milk quality.
"The identification standard has made specific requirements for the font, font size, area and so on of reconstituted milk labeling. If a reconstituted milk producer fails to label it and is reported, it will suffer a great blow." Chen Yu believes that Chinese consumers currently still lack understanding of reconstituted milk, so labeling will have a great impact on product sales.
"Adding milk powder does not affect the safety of milk. Reconstituted milk has its cost-effective side and should not be demonized, but dairy enterprises should clearly label it to protect consumers' right to know." Gu Jiasheng, deputy director of the Dairy Industry Committee of the China Dairy Association, called for a rational view of reconstituted milk. He also believes that for an individual product, directly judging the intrinsic quality of milk and dairy products by the degree of heat damage is more objective and also consistent with international standards. Accordingly, China's milk powder processing technology also needs to be upgraded.
Policy implementation: There is still a long way to go from the introduction of standards to market regulation
After the Ministry of Agriculture issued the new standard, the reporter visited and investigated many supermarkets in Beijing and found that almost all brands of pure milk and yogurt did not label the words "reconstituted milk." Their product ingredient descriptions showed "raw cow milk." Only Want Want Milk labeled "reconstituted milk" in a prominent position, and very few yogurts indicated milk powder in their product ingredients.
From the perspective of production cost, processing reconstituted milk from bulk milk powder is much cheaper than processing pure milk from raw fresh milk. Data show that the CIF price of imported bulk milk powder has long remained at 15,000-25,000 yuan/ton, while China's raw fresh milk prices in 2014 and 2015 averaged 4.05 yuan/kg and 3.45 yuan/kg. It can be imagined that after bulk milk powder is reduced to liquid milk, a certain price difference is formed with domestic raw fresh milk, so some dairy enterprises will not easily give up reconstituted milk production, and implementation of the new standard is extremely difficult.
According to the 2015 China Milk Product Quality and Safety Research Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Milk Product Report") produced by the Milk Product Quality and Risk Assessment Innovation Team, in 2014, China imported more than 1.93 million tons of dairy products, of which bulk milk powder (including whole milk and skim milk) accounted for more than 920,000 tons.
In fact, according to the "Milk Product Report," imported pure milk also has the problem of added reconstituted milk: among 4 batches of imported branded pasteurized milk investigated, 1 batch had added reconstituted milk and 1 batch was non-pasteurized milk; among 46 batches of imported UHT sterilized milk investigated, the average furosine value was 227.9 mg/100 g protein, significantly higher than the average of 196.1 mg/100 g protein among 112 batches of domestically produced UHT sterilized milk investigated.
Another deep-seated reason why policy implementation is difficult lies in the multi-agency management mechanism of the dairy industry. "The Ministry of Agriculture's new standard improves the identification standard for reconstituted milk and safeguards consumers' right to know, but the responsibility for supervising the production of dairy enterprises and the market circulation segment does not lie with the Ministry of Agriculture." Gao Lina believes that to truly regulate industrial development, multiple departments still need to work together. In particular, product supervision departments should strengthen monitoring and make public the enterprises that fail to label according to regulations.
In the long run, straightening out the dairy industry management mechanism is an unavoidable hurdle for the healthy development of the industry. According to senior dairy analyst Song Liang, at present, the revised identification standard has already received great attention from the State Food and Drug Administration.
Regarding the impact the new standard will have on the industry, Chen Yu has considered it more comprehensively. He believes that, optimistically, this move can temporarily curb imports of foreign bulk milk powder; but on the other hand, under the current market situation of relatively surplus domestic milk sources, if the path of spraying fresh milk into powder is also blocked, it will deal a huge blow to China's dairy industry. Taking it a step further, if dairy enterprises clearly label that reconstituted milk uses imported foreign milk powder as a raw material, or simply move production and processing links abroad, then under the current situation of insufficient consumer confidence in domestic milk powder, it will be even more unfavorable to the development of the national dairy industry.
"Fundamentally speaking, the development of China's dairy industry still depends on transformation and upgrading, improving quality and increasing efficiency," Chen Yu said.
In-depth analysis: Implement the quality milk project and connect the upstream and downstream interest chain of the dairy industry
0.5%! This is the nonconformity rate in the 2015 dairy product spot checks announced by the State Food and Drug Administration, far lower than the 3.2% nonconformity rate for food as a whole.
"Now, we need to begin paying more attention to milk quality, shifting from anxiety about safety to focusing on quality." Gu Jiasheng said that the reason milk is precious lies in its nutritional quality, and the development of the dairy industry has now reached the stage of improving quality.
For a long time, especially after the 2008 melamine incident, consumers' attention has never moved away from the bottom-line issue of the dairy industry--safety. In fact, in recent years, China's dairy products have not only been safer than other domestic foods, but even safer than dairy products officially reported by the European Union: the European Union's official annual report on the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed in 2014 showed that among the 3,097 nonconforming foods reported that year, 66 were dairy products, while the report released by China's State Food and Drug Administration in 2015 showed that China detected a total of 5,541 batches of nonconforming food, of which 44 batches were nonconforming dairy products.
Compared with the safety issue of the dairy industry, the current imbalance in interest distribution along the industrial chain, which leads to low returns for dairy farmers, is another difficult problem in revitalizing China's dairy industry.
"Pure milk and reconstituted milk are the same price. Raw fresh milk definitely cannot compete with bulk milk powder. Dairy farmers work hard raising cows but do not get corresponding returns." Tian Bingshen, chairman of the Bingshen Dairy Cow Cooperative in Muli Town, Gaoqing County, Shandong Province, told the reporter that a few years ago, cooperative members raised nearly 5,000 dairy cows in a scattered manner, but now there are only 3,000. If they had not been organized in the form of a cooperative for unified management, the number of dairy cows raised would probably be even lower.
From 2008 to 2015, China's raw fresh milk output increased by an average annual rate of 0.8%. Last year, raw fresh cow milk output was 37.55 million tons, while the growth rates of dairy processing volume and consumption volume were both above 6%. It can be imagined that more and more raw materials for dairy processing are coming from imports. The direct impact of the import surge is a decline in dairy farmers' breeding returns. In recent years, the phenomenon of dumping milk and slaughtering cows has appeared in many places in China, and the development of the national animal husbandry industry has been hugely impacted.
Wang Jiaqi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has always recommended that China implement a "quality milk project." He believes this move is the core link for simultaneously solving low consumer confidence and imbalance in interest distribution.
"Consumers need quality dairy products, quality dairy products need quality raw milk, quality raw milk needs standardized breeding technology, and standardized breeding technology needs reasonable cost input and returns." In Wang Jiaqi's view, by implementing the "quality milk project," different links in the dairy chain such as consumption, processing and breeding will change from their original disconnected state into an organic whole, which can fundamentally solve the difficult problem of imbalanced interest distribution in the industrial chain and improve dairy farmers' breeding returns. It is the only way to achieve the comprehensive revitalization of the dairy industry.