Dairy quality and safety reach the best level in history
Reported by our journalists Fang Ning and Liu Wanting. “In 2015, the pass rate of national dairy product spot checks reached 99.5%, and the pass rate for testing banned additives such as melamine remained at 100% for 7 consecutive years; the average values of the two major nutritional components in raw milk, milk protein and milk fat, are both higher than the national standards and also higher than the US standards.” On August 16, Gu Jicheng, secretary-general of the Dairy Association of China, said this at the launch conference for the “China Dairy Quality Report (2015).”
The report was compiled by the Dairy Association of China under the guidance and support of ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the China Food and Drug Administration, and was released publicly to society for the first time.
The development of the dairy industry concerns public health, the national economy and people's livelihood, and the future of the nation. After more than 60 years of reform and development, especially the rectification and revitalization after 2008, China's dairy industry has taken on a completely new look. This is first reflected in the steady improvement of comprehensive production capacity. In 2015, China's total milk output reached 38.7 million tonnes, ranking third in the world, after only India and the United States; per capita milk consumption was 36.1 kg, an increase of 5.9 kg over 2008. However, the current per capita consumption is only 1/3 of the world average, so there is still considerable growth potential.
Second, the pace of building a modern dairy industry has accelerated, and the level of large-scale, standardized, mechanized and organized dairy cattle farming has continued to rise. In 2015, the share of large-scale farming with more than 100 dairy cattle on hand reached 48.3%, 28.8 percentage points higher than in 2008, and 100% of large-scale farms achieved mechanized milking; there were more than 15,000 dairy farmer professional cooperatives, more than 7 times the number in 2008; the dairy product output and sales of the top 20 Chinese dairy enterprises, including Yili, Mengniu, Modern Farming, Bright Dairy, Sanyuan, Junlebao and Feihe, accounted for 51% and 54% of the national total respectively, further increasing industrial concentration.
Third, the level of dairy product quality and safety has risen sharply. In 2015, the pass rate of national dairy product spot checks reached 99.5%, and the pass rate for testing banned additives such as melamine remained at 100% for 7 consecutive years; the average values of the two major nutritional components in raw milk, milk protein and milk fat, are both higher than the national standards and also higher than the US standards, while the average somatic cell count in raw milk from large-scale farms is below the EU limit and the average total bacterial count is below the Australian limit.
Fourth, the competitiveness of dairy enterprises has further improved. The production equipment and processing technology of major dairy enterprises are mostly sourced from internationally renowned manufacturers, and their management and operations have reached an internationally advanced level, among which Yili and Mengniu have entered the world's top 20 dairy companies; Junlebao infant formula milk powder has passed the internationally recognized Global Food Safety Standard (BRC) A+ top-level certification, and its infant formula milk powder, after strict testing and review in Hong Kong, China, has entered the Hong Kong, China market; Modern Farming and Feihe Dairy have won gold awards at the Monde Selection World Quality Awards.
Since 2008, the state has introduced and improved dairy industry regulations, policies and standards, and vigorously carried out rectification and revitalization of the dairy industry. The healthy farming concept of “build good barns, feed good grass, raise good cows, produce good milk” has been popularized and promoted, and oversight of dairy product quality and safety has been unprecedentedly strict, effectively safeguarding dairy quality and safety. Since 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture has conducted spot checks on a total of 151,000 batches of raw milk samples, covering all milk stations, with monitoring indicators covering all banned additives.
In the dairy cattle farming segment, support for the dairy industry has been continuously increased, and a series of policies and measures such as dairy cattle improved breed subsidies, standardized large-scale farming, and the action to revitalize alfalfa development for the dairy industry have been implemented, prompting the development of the dairy industry to shift from quantity expansion to quality and efficiency improvement, and from traditional dairy to modern dairy, with dairy production levels and milk source quality continuously improving.
In the procurement and transport segments, clean-up and rectification of milk stations has been carried out across the board, access management has been strictly enforced, and substandard milk stations have been resolutely shut down. The number of milk stations decreased from more than 20,000 in 2008 to 8,500, and the infrastructure, machinery and equipment, testing methods and personnel quality of milk stations have improved significantly. All raw milk transport vehicles have achieved dedicated use and licensed transport.
In the dairy processing segment, the “Industrial Policy for the Dairy Products Industry” was implemented, production licenses for dairy product and infant formula milk powder enterprises were re-examined, a number of enterprises with no guaranteed milk source and backward production technology were eliminated, and mergers and reorganizations of infant formula milk powder enterprises were vigorously advanced, optimizing the industrial structure and effectively safeguarding dairy product quality and safety.
Gu Jicheng said that China's dairy industry has already undergone earth-shaking changes and achieved accomplishments that have attracted worldwide attention. The association will, by regularly releasing authoritative information on the dairy industry, objectively reflect the situation in China's dairy industry development, oversight, quality and safety in all aspects, build a bridge of communication among consumers, dairy producers and the government, and this is of great significance for responding to social concerns, popularizing dairy knowledge and guiding healthy consumption.