China to improve quality of domestic dairy and milk products

To further revive the milk industry and improve the quality of domestic dairy products, the State Council has released a circular to guide the industry's development.

It expects the industry to increase its own production capacity through technological innovation, system reform in management and cost reduction while increasing efficiency. Development of the industry should also be coordinated with ecological development.

By 2020, progress should be made in building a modernized milk industry, with more than 99 percent of the products qualifying and re-use rate of the waste in cattle raising reaching more than 75 percent. The whole milk industry should be revitalized by 2025, with milk source bases, product processing, quality and industry competitiveness reaching the world’s top levels.

To improve milk source bases, the government urges efforts to consolidate the current bases in the north, while expanding new areas in the south. It calls for developing standardized cattle breeding methods, improving the quality of milk cows through big data and online evaluation platforms, and producing high-quality fodder for the cows.

According to the circular, the State Council encourages the integration of dairy enterprises, promotion companies and e-commerce retailers, in order to lower costs while enhancing efficiency to increase the competitiveness of dairy enterprises.

Regulations and rules on dairy products will also be improved, with strengthened supervision through the whole production process of dairy products.

More strict measures will be taken to ensure the quality of formula milk powder for infants, and illegal actions such as mixing inedible ingredients and overuse of food additives will be strictly banned.

It clearly forbids importing milk powder in bulk and splitting them before sales, while encouraging companies to set up their own milk bases to improve the quality for infants.

Dairy enterprises should also make efforts to improve their image through activities such as inviting visitors to the farms, publicizing the production process to inspire market consumption.

The government will provide policy support in breeding and product processing, and help strengthen coordination among different regions and departments, according to the release.