Another white revolution is in the air. It is not like the one in the past—the one that catapulted India from being a milk-deficient country to one of the world’s largest producers of milk.
Yet the revolution is being fast joined by a growing tribe of health-conscious Indians who want the healthiest food on their tables. Unlike the National Dairy Development Board that steered the earlier white revolution, entrepreneurs and corporates are taking the lead this time. More than milk, they are selling an assurance: to provide pure and fresh cow’s milk.
India produces 160 million metric tons of milk annually however out of this 70% of the milk was found to be adulterated with everything from water and milk powder to urea, detergent and banned hormones used to extract more milk., according to a 2012 Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) nationwide surveillance survey.
What is organic milk?
According to the Food Safety & Standards (Organic Foods) Regulation, 2017, livestock must be bred naturally, fed with organic fodder, have access to organic grazing fields, and be free of antibiotics and hormones to be certified as organic.
The organic dairy farmers need to follow environmentally friendly practices too like using bio-fertilizers (produced from bio-gas plant) for growing green fodder. This ensures no harmful pesticides goes into the cows through the green fodder.
The milk is pasteurize & packed within few minutes of milking. To maintain health benefits of the milk it is pasteurized at 72.8 degrees according to the world standard.
The distribution of milk in then done via temperature controlled vehicle to maintain the freshness of milk. The milk is not altered mechanically, for e.g. the cream is neither seperated nor added to adjust the fat percentage of milk.
The market for farm-fresh milk is minuscule and niche. “There is a growing base of consumers who are asking for organic milk, and companies like Oleche, TruMilk, WhollyCow, Pious Milk etc. are yet to cater to even one per cent of them.
While the milk supplied by these modern dairy farmers may be safe, the nutrition-conscious lot should apply judgement. Scientific studies show that milk from pasture-fed, free-range cows contain more nutrients—omega-3 fatty acid, Vitamin E and beta carotene—than that from farm cows that are fed cereal rations.
This premium milk comes for a premium price too —a litre of fresh-from-the-farm cow milk is priced anything between Rs 60 and Rs 80. By comparison, Mother Dairy milk costs Rs 38-Rs 46 a litre.
Reference- Down To Earth, Live Mint, Oleche website, FSSAI website
