Reconstituted milk logo yoghurt raw material storage regulatory blind spot

The so-called reconstituted milk refers to adding concentrated milk (condensed milk) or milk powder, and adding an appropriate amount of water to make an emulsion with a ratio of water and solid matter in the raw milk. According to national standards, reconstituted milk can be used as raw material for yogurt, sterilized milk and other dairy products, but pasteurized milk cannot be used as raw material for reconstituted milk.

When consumers buy yoghurt, they may deliberately avoid those products that bear the obvious identity of "reconstituted milk," and choose products that do not have the "reconstituted milk" label, and the ingredients list is written with "raw milk", but this Does not mean that the raw material of the product in question must be "raw milk."

Contrary to consumers’ impressions, although there are some dairy companies that have made disclosures about the integrity of their non-produced milk products in accordance with the law, they have printed “reconstituted milk” on the outer packaging of yogurt. The other part of the yoghurt product without the "reconstituted milk" logo, even if it is indicated in the list of ingredients, "raw milk," but it can not distinguish the authenticity.

The reason why this is so, according to many parties, the reason is that there is currently no authoritative, scientific detection method to supervise, which is a blind spot for yoghurt raw material supervision.

In comparison with the cost of dairy products produced from “reconstituted milk” and “raw milk” as raw materials, there is a significant cost gap between the two. This is also a case of imitation of “raw milk” raw materials. Breast milk products provide a realistic basis. Although this untrammel involves food safety, it is related to corporate integrity.

"Now, not only yoghurt, including a large amount of sterilized milk, reconstituted milk is used in almost half of them." Li Tao, senior engineer at Heilongjiang Dairy Industry Technology Development Center, told the reporter.

According to the “Circular on Strengthening the Management of Liquid Milk Production and Management” (hereinafter referred to as “Article 24”), No. 24 Document of the General Office of the State Council on September 17, 2005, “No reconstituted milk is allowed to be added in the production of pasteurized milk.” "Where the use of reconstituted milk in the production and processing of sterilized milk, yoghurt and other products, regardless of the number," must be "wake up the target injection" 'reconstituted milk', and the proportion of raw materials for reconstituted milk is accurately indicated in the product ingredient list. ".

In major supermarkets in Shanghai, only a small number of brands such as Weiquan, Guangming and Wangzi have “reconstituted milk” logos, while most of the other dairy products that do not have relevant logos are shown on the ingredient list. Ingredients.

According to industry experts, due to the lack of effective testing methods and inadequate supervision, the No. 24 document has been used in name only for a number of years. Many yogurts with reconstituted milk flowed onto the market, but no signs were found.

A staff member of Bright Dairy stated that due to the weather and seasons, when the supply of fresh milk is insufficient, Guangming will select some products to use reconstituted milk at a certain period of time, but will strictly mark the packaging.

A full-fledged staff member also stated that he did not use fresh milk but reconstituted milk because he did not produce enough fresh milk at the moment and he did not have extra fresh milk to make yogurt. The overall official reply is that they do not want to actively mention the issue of "rejuvenating milk."

The above-mentioned persons all expressed that the factors that determine the quality of yogurt are the milk source, the number of strains, and the fermentation technology. Therefore, in the case that the total amount of fresh milk produced by Weiwei itself is not enough, in order to ensure the stable quality of the milk source and food safety, we choose to import milk powder from New Zealand and use reconstituted milk made from milk powder as the raw material of yogurt.

Lin Weifeng is a food biotechnology professional teacher at South China University of Technology. He studied yogurt for many years and said that most brands of yogurt in Guangzhou are made from fresh milk, such as Yantang and Huanong yogurt.

Shen Weitao, Director of the Food Safety Surveillance Division of the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration believes that milk companies use reconstituted milk as raw materials, mainly for food processing and storage. After all, liquid milk is not easily preserved and transported, but reconstituted milk after processing is much easier. As for the loss of nutrients, he thinks the impact is very small.

According to information provided by an industry insider who did not want to be named, modern drying technology can make cow milk almost exactly the same nutritional value as fresh milk. If the percentage is used to describe the nutritional difference between reconstituted milk and fresh milk, the person thinks that the same degree is above 90%.

Lin Weifeng said that since reconstituted milk is easier to control, its raw materials can come from all over the world. Enterprises can import Australia, New Zealand milk powder, more standardization and quality assurance.

The temptation of cost However, the choice of imported milk or raw milk for raw materials, the cost difference. Wang Dingmian, vice president of the Guangdong Dairy Industry Association, said that the local purchase of milk sources and the price of imported milk powder determine who the company chooses as raw materials.

“Guangdong Province is now using fresh milk at 5 yuan/kg. It would be more profitable to use milk powder to restore it. (If) 3 yuan/kg or so to buy milk, it's almost equal to reducing milk powder; if it is two yuan, it must be It is cheaper to use fresh milk,” said Wang Dingmian.

According to the Sugar and Liquor Express Market Research Center “2011-2012 China Dairy Industry Market Research Report”, from January to November 2011, the average price of raw milk for the 10 main dairy provinces in Inner Mongolia, Hebei and other provinces was 3.2 yuan/kg. The year-on-year increase of 11.7% means that according to the above-mentioned criteria of Wang Dingmian, it is more cost-effective for enterprises to choose rejuvenating milk.

At the same time, the import of milk powder "has increased in price and price."

Customs data show that from January to October 2011, milk powder imports 39.7 tons, an increase of 14.5%, the average import price of 3662 US dollars / ton, an increase of 9.5%.

From January to November 2011, the dairy product output of dairy enterprises above designated size reached 21.488 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%. Of which 18,833,000 tons of liquid milk, an increase of 10.7%.

The low price of imported dairy products has led to a growing dependence on the domestic dairy product industry for imported raw materials. Domestic and foreign dairy product prices have been increasing and imports have increased. According to calculations, the current price of one ton of imported dairy products is only about 2.7 million yuan, while domestic production of one ton of dairy products costs about 30,000 yuan, that is to say, domestic companies will lose about 3,000 yuan for each ton of dairy products.

The purchase price of domestic milk sources has risen steadily, while the production of liquid milk has continued to increase, and the quantity of imported milk powder has remained high. Experts believe that this also supports the possibility of the existence of a large number of “unlabeled” reconstituted milk products.

In July 2011, the State Administration of Taxation promulgated the “Announcement on the Partial Liquid Milk VAT Applicable Tax Rate” (State Administration of Taxation Announcement No. 38 of 2011), which announced that the value-added tax of pasteurized milk, sterilized milk, and modified milk is applicable. Tax rates are explained.

The State Administration of Taxation announced that starting from July 6, 2011, pasteurized milk and sterilized milk will be collected at a 13% tax rate, and the modulated milk will be collected at a 17% tax rate.

The announcement also stated that both pasteurized milk and sterilized milk belong to primary agricultural products, and the value-added tax can be collected at a rate of 13% according to the milk in the Notes on the Range of Agricultural Product Collection. The modulated milk produced in accordance with the “National Food Safety Standard—Modified Milk” (GB251919-2010) is not a primary agricultural product and VAT shall be levied at a 17% rate.

According to industry sources, the State Administration of Taxation has increased the VAT rate for milk from 13% to 17%, while maintaining a 13% VAT rate for UHT milk and pasteurized milk. The purpose is to increase pure milk instead of milk Consumption.

Different tax rates have become another cost difference between two different types of dairy products.

Detection method In the yoghurt that is sold on the market, if there is no “reconstituted milk” logo, it will surely be made of pure milk. How to detect?

The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality Supervision responded to the reporter’s report that some of the three yoghurt producers in Shanghai used reconstituted milk in their production and processing, and they all marked reconstituted milk on yogurt products that use reconstituted milk.

However, asked about testing methods, the Shanghai Bureau of Quality Supervision did not respond.

Subsequently, a number of dairy experts interviewed by this reporter’s reporter informed that at present, the quality supervision department will not test this item. The reason is that there is no unified and effective detection method.

In fact, as early as the release of Circular 24, the Ministry of Agriculture specifically formulated and published a protocol for the detection of complementary reconstituted milk and its standard “Identification of reconstituted milk in pasteurized milk and UHT-sterilized milk” (NY/T939). -2005)) The principle is to identify whether or not reconstituted milk is contained by the proline content in the milk.

It was pointed out that when the proline content of pasteurized milk is greater than 12 mg per 100 g of protein, reconstituted milk is identified. Similarly, there are also standards for UHT sterilized milk.

However, practice has proved that this method "does not make it."

As early as November 2006, at the Shanghai Pasteur's Milk Symposium, Wang Dingmian suggested that the use of valine for testing is not solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to use reduced milk. And its more direct and greater role is in the detection and judgment of the degree of milk heat. Even if 100% of the reconstituted milk is not used, the valine of pasteurized milk or UHT milk (sterilized milk) must be undeniable as long as there are heat treatment that is too long, too high or many times.

Li Tao said that this technology loophole has become a consensus in the industry. Therefore, the detection of reconstituted milk will not stop.

8 years later, new testing methods and standards have not yet been introduced. But the method is not without it.

Industry experts also actively explored through experiments. Lie Tao and others studied the “color difference method” test for reconstituted milk. Although it has been published and certified by some industry authorities, “it is not an authoritative department. We can only apply for corporate standards and local standards, but the government does not approve, nor does it have national functional departments. The identification." Li Tao said.

In addition, Wang Dingmian also pointed out that Circular No. 24 only required the production enterprises that use reduced milk to register with the relevant government departments. In other words, this direction of government supervision is to choose the downstream direction of product processing. However, there are many shortcomings in the implementation process of this filing system. It also depends on the integrity and self-consciousness of the production enterprises and the supervision of the government.

If a certain dairy company purchases a lot of milk powder, it is using reduction. However, this company produces a wide variety of products, including lactic acid beverages, condensed milk and other products, and these products are not listed in the scope specified in the "Notice" of the State Office on the 24th to label the restored milk. In fact, the company used reduced milk in yogurt, UHT milk and even pasteurized milk. The government did not have a better way or technology to check it out. These reduced milk products still remained on the list. Shelves were sold to consumers and Wang Dingmian pointed out earlier.