June 24, 2011

 

Controversy in China over dairy safety standards

 

 

China's current dairy safety standards have stirred a new round of complaints, with arguments from critics and proponents making headlines across the country.

 

The maximum limit for bacteria in raw milk, or the aerobic plate count, is currently set at two million cells per millilitre in China, four times higher than the amount allowed under previous regulations.

 

Wang Dingmian, president of the Guangzhou Dairy Association, said the standards are the weakest of their kind in the world, and a retreat to standards not in use for 25 years.

 

However, Nadamude, secretary general of the Dairy Association of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said that 70% of China's dairy farmers will be forced to throw out their milk or even sell some of their cows if stricter standards are put into place.

 

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is a major agricultural base and home to several large dairy companies, including Yili and Mengniu.

 

Nadamude attributed the lower standards to the popularity of small-scale farming among dairy farmers. Less than 30% of the country's farmers have a herd of more than 100 cows.

 

"Small-scale farming often features poor sanitary conditions and limited means of preserving milk. Therefore, the aerobic plate count in raw milk is likely to increase," said Nadamude.

 

Raising the national dairy safety standards may result in a shortage of milk and may create a dependence on imported dairy products.

 

"People will have to resign themselves to any price hikes that foreign dairy producers may impose," he said, adding that improving the quality of raw milk requires an increase in large-scale dairy farming in China.

 

Wang believes the standards were lowered because of pressure from dairy producers seeking to reap larger profits by acquiring raw milk and expanding their market share in a cost-effective way.

 

The lower standards have not benefited farmers who are engaging in small and medium-sized dairy farming, but have instead indirectly compromised the farmers' interests.

 

"Consumers are buying more foreign dairy products, sometimes at high prices or at risk of buying counterfeit products, because they are losing confidence in domestic products with lower standards," said Wang.

 

A series of food safety scandals have erupted in China in recent years, such as pork products contaminated with clenbuterol, an illegal and poisonous chemical additive, and baby formula tainted with melamine, an industrial compound used to create plastic and resin.

 

These scandals have shattered consumers' confidence in domestic food products, and with a prevailing craze for foreign products, dairy farmers are prevented from selling raw milk at profitable prices.

 

Raising the standards, as well as increasing the price of raw milk, is the only way out for the dairy industry, Wang suggested.

 

"Farmers will be motivated to ensure that the quality of their raw milk lives up to the higher standards. The higher prices will encourage them to do so," said Wang.

 

The controversy over the dairy standards has made headlines across the country in recent days, with the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), publishing articles by Nadamude and Wang on Wednesday (Jun 22).