Dreaming of a seamless integrated cold chain for the world’s
second largest dairy producer
Growing at about 10% annually, the Indian
dairy industry is predominantly controlled by the unorganised sector, which
accounts for nearly 85%. About eight crore rural families across India are
engaged in dairy production and the rural market consumes over half of the
total milk produced.
According to a study by ASSOCHAM, an upward
spiral in prices, the lack of proper infrastructure for storage &
distribution and absence of a transparent milk pricing system are affecting
retail consumption of milk and leading to escalating milk prices in the
domestic market.
(Farmer selling extracted
milk at collection centre)
DAIRY – ‘farm to
home’ : An outlook
Raw Milk is often made to undergo some
processes which are applied to it before it comes to the market for selling.
Chilling, packaging and transportation of milk is a part of dairy technology
that deals with milk processing on an industrial scale.
The task of procuring milk and getting it to
our dairy processing plants is a complex problem involving ownership, pricing,
collecting, grading, measuring, weighing, testing, bulking, transporting, chilling,
packaging and heating. Milk must be cooled as soon as possible after it is
produced. A temperature of 4°C or less is recommended. It is very necessary,
because as long as this temperature is maintained, bacterial action in the milk
is retarded if not prevented.
Chilling of Milk: The Importance
Chilling of milk means rapid cooling of raw
milk to sufficiently low temperature so that the growth of microorganisms
present in milk is checked.In chilling process the temperature of milk should be
reduced to preferably 4degcentigrade.
Milk inside the udder is almost sterile and
as soon as it leaves the udder, it is exposed to atmospheric conditions. Micro-organisms
gain rapid entry into the milk. Various sources which contribute to the micro
flora in milk are milk containers, udder of the animal, dust and dirt
particles, fodder, leaves, air, the milker and the animal itself. The number
and type of micro-organisms would depend upon the conditions and the sources of
contamination.
As soon as micro-organisms get into the
milk, they start growing rapidly because milk contains all the nutrients
required for their growth. If the growth of microorganisms is not checked then
several biochemical changes will take place in milk. Due to these changes the
quality of milk is adversely affected, and the milk becomes unfit for
consumption. Since most of the milk is produced in the rural areas under
unhygienic conditions, hence, keeping quality of raw milk is very
low.Therefore, chilling is considered necessary soon after it is extracted at
the farm level – at its very source.The most effective means of controlling the
growth of micro-organisms without effecting the physico-chemical properties and
nutritive value of milk is to chill it. Lower temperature inhibits the growth
of most of the micro-organisms.
Refrigerated Transportation: Need
of the Hour
(Transportation of milk by
farmers – exposure of raw milk to heat and unprotected temperature conditions
thereby inducing high bacterial growth)
Contrary to a Dairy farmer in developed countries extracting
more than 1000Lts per day, an average Indian Dairy Farmer at max owns 4 to 5
cows extracting less than 40 litres per day.
Indian dairy
farmers typically extract milk and collectively store them in milk cans and
transport it (unrefrigerated) to the nearby Milk Collecting Agents / milk
co-operative societies in their locality. We are talking about a couple of
hours of exposure to ambient and bacterial growth before the farmer can bring
the milk to the nearby, assigned chilling center. There once the milk is graded
according to its qualitative aspects, the collected milk is then stored in BULK
MILK COOLERS (typically with capacities more 500 litres) to preserve them
before any processing.
Here again at
the chilling center again, it takes close to 3 hours for the milk Chillers to
chill the milk to +4degC – ideal storage temperature. The problem with the
current system is that the extracted milk is not preserved in the required
temperature (+4⁰C) until it reached
the collection centres thereby exposing the milk to high micro-organism growth
leading to poor quality of milk with reduced shelf life and quality. Milk from these chilling centersis then
transported to the factory in INSULATED tankers – NOT refrigerated ones. What
happens after production of packeted milk ready to be sold? These precooled
milk packets from factory are transported in INSULATED Container bodies
fabricated on Trucks – again, NOT refrigerated ones.
When Ice cream
and frozen food have the privilege of being transported in Refrigerated Trucks
in India, why is DAIRY – the primary source of Nutrition and Calcium for Humans
being IGNORED its right to Refrigerated Transportation? Perhaps the damage to
due ineffective or lack of cold chain is very obvious in melted Ice cream or
thawed frozen food than milk. After all, a consumer only realizes the lack of
Cold Chain when Milk turns bad in the kitchen. But then, it’s a bit too late.
The consumer is left to compromise on the bad quality and continues to use
another packet of milk for consumption.
Dairy
Co-operatives and private players have all this while been focusing on
establishing cold chain from chilling centres to the production of milk. The
very critical area of cold chain at source and last-mile distribution has not
been paid much attention. As much as it is important to chill milk at source to
refrain bacterial growth, it is important to use refrigerated transportation
for last-mile distribution as well.
Is there a
solution to bring a dramatic change in current Indian Dairy Cold Chain -at farm
level and in last mile distribution? Apparently the answer seems to be YES with
the intensive research and product development initiative taken up by BHARAT
REFRIGERATIONS PVT LTD, a Chennai based refrigeration research& engineering
company. While they have developed Mini Milk Coolers targeted to SOLVE the
current hurdles and inefficiencies of Cold Chain that our Dairy Farmers face,
they have been successfully revolutionizing the Indian market with their
refrigerated truck brand Transfreez.
The mini milk
coolers that are patent protected are designed with 40 & 50Lts capacity which
run on single phase power available in villages. And the good news is that these
mini milk coolers are chargeable during 8 hours of poweravailability during any
part of the day and sustains cooling in the milk container for upto 20 hours without any need of electricity. Another
good news? An alternative of solar
energy can also be used to charge these milk Chillers to retail cooling for the
entire day. The best news of all is that the milk that is poured is instantly
chilled, completely arresting the inhibition and growth of bacteria.
Mini milk
coolers are designed to rapidly chill and maintain temperature of milk at +4⁰C constantly to reduce the temperature of milk for minimizing the
bacterial growth thereby ensuring its food safety and quality.The main objective
of these mini-milk coolers is to enhance quality of milk at its SOURCE, avoidingeconomic losses to farmersdue to
spoilage. We are talking about raising
Indian Dairy standards to global level - that is, raising the quality of
130 million tonnes of milk produced by our Nation and avoiding economic losses
to 8 crore rural families engaged in Dairy production.
And now, dreaming of a seamless, integrated cold chain
for the world’s second largest dairy producer seems to becoming a reality.
-
Author
DivyaAmrith – Director, Marketing &
Strategy. Email: divya.a@bharatref.in
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