April 29, 2013

Philippine government develops coco milk-cow's milk blend

The Philippine National Dairy Authority (NDA) has succeeded in developing a coco milk-cow's milk blend that can be used for its national milk-feeding program and to help reduce the Philippines's huge milk imports.

In a report by local daily Business Mirror, Judith A. Platero, chief of the NDA's central milk laboratory, said the agency was directed by Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala in October to develop dairy products blended with coconut milk to expand local milk supply.

In December the NDA signed an agreement with JojoResueno of Coco House for the supply of fresh coco skim milk and proceeded to work on different blends that could be offered to the domestic market.

Platero said the NDA also developed kesongputi or white cheese from a mixture of coco skim milk, with rennet as coagulant, and coco milk yogurt using 70-percent freshly squeezed coco milk, 30-percent fresh milk and 100 grams of skimmed-milk powder and starter culture.

For the coco-milk cheese, 70 percent of it was freshly squeezed coco milk; the rest, fresh milk added to 200 grams of skimmed-milk powder.

Platero said her agency tested four mixtures of fresh milk and coco blend to find out which one would be accepted by the market. The first mixture has a 50-percent coco blend; the second, 37 percent; the third, 28 percent; and the fourth, 17 percent.

Though all four were moderately liked in the sensory test, the fourth was rated the highest (7.4) based on color and appearance, flavor and aroma, texture and general acceptability.

The NDA, the Philippine Coconut Authority and Coco House agreed to develop a dairy product that can be promoted commercially and used for the milk-feeding program, taking into consideration the three the levels of fat content-3 percent, 5 percent and 7 percent-and with milk solids (non-fat) no lower than 9 percent.

Platero said her laboratory is also working on a filled-milk product that will source its fat from the coco cream and thus address the cholesterol issue of butterfat in milk while contributing to the creamy flavor of the blend.

Tests done on the 80:20 blend showed it to be more inferior and less acceptable than the blend containing 7-percent fat.

Platero said the 7-percent fat blend will be pilot-tested in some areas to determine its acceptability and find out its nutritional impact on the beneficiaries of regular milk feeding. She added that eventually, the blend will also be marketed with different flavors for variety and better acceptability in different market segments.