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Milk a near-perfect food, but must be safe

Wednesday, 18 May, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

Dr Amrit Patel

There is no reason to not enjoy drinking milk as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. Food accounts for the highest share of monthly household expenditure in India at 31%. Within food, milk and milk products account for the highest share after cereals. The per capita milk availability has gone up from 126 gm/day in 1960 to 359 gm in 2015 and it would continue to increase because of rising level of income of middle-class and rapid process of urbanisation and industrialisation. India has been number one in milk production since last several years. The production in 2014-15 is 140 million tonne valuing Rs 4.18 trillion. Its significance can be appreciated from the fact that the Budget 2016-17 has introduced four new initiatives to promote the growth of dairy industry.

Milk, a near-perfect food
According to Dr Bhasin, president, Indian Dairy Association, milk is a near-perfect food source packed with most vitamins and minerals that keep our body healthy and strong. Due to importance of milk for babies, teens and adults, World Milk Day is being celebrated since June 1, 2000, and it aims at creating awareness about milk - the prominent source of food - and maintaining its safety at all level, viz. production, collection, transport, processing, packaging, storage and distribution.

Milk contain nine essential nutrients that immensely benefit our health in following ways:

Calcium which builds healthy bones and teeth; maintains bone mass
Protein which serves as a source of energy; builds/repairs muscle tissues
Potassium that helps maintain a healthy blood pressure
Phosphorus which strengthens bones and generates energy
Vitamin D that helps maintain bones
Vitamin B12 that helps maintain healthy red blood cells and nerve tissues
Vitamin A that helps maintain the immune system, normal vision and skin
Riboflavin[B2] which converts food into energy
Niacin which metabolises sugars and fatty acids

A single glass of milk is loaded with 15 essential vitamins and nutrients. It contains as much protein as an egg, as many carbohydrates as a quarter cup of rice and same calcium as 16 cups of spinach. Regular serving of milk and dairy products helps maintain healthy bones and ensures children get right amount of essential vitamins and minerals for growth. Milk is also a good source of lean protein required by our body to rebuild muscles, repair tissues and fight infections.

Important benefits

Five important benefits of milk which most of us do not know are as under:
Eating cheese can help protect against dental caries. The nutrients in dairy, which are thought to contribute to this, are casein, phosphorus and calcium
Milk is one of the best sources of calcium and a single glass contains a quarter of a person’s daily calcium needs—that is as much as four cups of broccoli and 16 cups of spinach
Drinking milk can help people manage their weight. Three servings of dairy products in a calorie-controlled diet can help achieve greater weight loss
Containing all the nine important amino acids, milk is an excellent source of protein. In fact, tryptophan –one of the nine amino acids—can actually induce sleep
Spicy food often leaves one with a burning sensation. Dairy offers the perfect solution. Milk and other dairy products contain calcium which can help soothe burning taste buds.

Importance of cow’s milk
Cow’s milk is a rich source of quality protein (containing all the essential amino acids) and whole milk is also a rich source of energy in the form of saturated fat, which can prevent muscle mass being used for energy. An increased milk intake can boost muscle mass and strength during resistance exercise in both younger and older adults. A glass of milk a day may delay osteoarthritis in women. Half a litre of milk is more nutritious than 250 gram of meat and three eggs and has all necessary nutrients to sustain life. The best dairy products are from milch animals that are grass-fed and/or raised on pasture. Diseases that may be prevented with certain fatty acids found in milk in descending order are, viz. [i] coronary heart disease and stroke [ii] retinal and brain development in infants [iii] autoimmune disorders, e.g. lupus & nephropathy [iv] crohn’s disease [v] cancers of the breast, colon and prostrate [vi] mild hypertension [vii] rheumatoid arthritis [viii] obesity.

Addressing malnutrition
On the negative side, there are reports of the casein in milk causing autism and spectrum disorders. Excessive milk consumption has been linked to an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease and potentially, prostate cancer. While debates will continue about benefits and risks of milk consumption, it cannot be disputed that as a source of fat, protein, carbohydrates, salts, minerals and vitamins, it continues to hold significant promise in addressing malnutrition and malnourishment, particularly as livestock management improves in India and the developing world. In fact, reduced-fat varieties of dairy products are encouraged and are widely available. The calcium content of reduced fat dairy products is relatively similar to the respective whole-milk products. Reduced-fat dairy foods are nutrient- rich and can assist in meeting the recommended intake of a range of nutrients. Further, dairy products that have calcium in them, such as yogurt, buttermilk and some cheeses may be consumed. They have less lactose and the cultures help the body digest the little bit that is there.

Measures to improve safety
Public concern about milk safety has been increasing since last few years. Food safety describes the ways and means of milk production, handling, processing, packaging, storage and distribution of milk to prevent food-borne illness by ensuring complete absence of contaminants or their reduction to safe levels permitted by laws and regulations. The international food safety standards specify the requirements to enable the food business operators to implement, operate, maintain and improve the food safety system. Aimed at supplying safe milk and dairy products to consumers, the FSSAI regulates and monitors the manufacture, packaging and distribution, sale and import of safe and wholesome food.

Milk in India is produced by millions of small producers in village environment for supply to over 125 crore people. The safety of raw milk cannot be compromised due to the presence of harmful pesticides, heavy metals, chemicals, microbial metabolites, antibiotics and aflatoxins beyond tolerant limits. Use of low grade milk results in low quality unsafe products adversely affecting the export of milk. Following are the measures to maintain and improve milk safety:

There is a wide gap in knowledge and general awareness among milk producers about hygienic principles and practices and safety norms needed to produce safe milk. Dairy plant owners must establish intimate links with milk producers and help them in modernising and upgrading milk production facilities such as construction of hygienic animal shelters, milking system, feeding practices, sanitary milking pails, cans, cloth lined filters and milk cooling devices.
There is urgent need to establish bio-safety testing laboratories. Rapid and reliable testing methods need to be developed for estimation of pesticides, heavy metals and harmful microbial metabolites in milk using new generation probes.
In order to ensure hygienic milking of animals, community centres with cooling systems need to be established engaging trained manpower to operate, maintain, clean and repair the system.
Health of animals is of paramount importance for producing safe milk. Maintenance of disease-free zone for milk production is essential for international trade. Veterinary care must reach throughout the country. As vaccination, deworming and treatment of animals are most essential, veterinary clinics need to be located in rural areas.

The environment under which milk is produced, collected, processed and distributed should be fully conducive and, therefore, agricultural practices, sanitation, quality of drinking water and fodder, type and quality of pipelines and so on must be aligned to the goal of healthy milk. Europe started adopting healthy practices from 1970s and could implement its stringent quality standards only in late 1990s. Farmers need to display high degree of hygiene and know-how of animal health and nutrition. Availability of on-time veterinary services and standard quality of cattle feed are prerequisite for increasing milk yield per animal.

Increasing milk output
By 2025, India will have more population (1.4 billion) than that in China. Besides, by 2060, 56% Indians will reside in urban areas and 46% in rural areas. This shows India needs a continuous increase in milk output. The NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) estimates the demand for milk at 200 MT by 2020, in view of rising population and disposable income. Not only production but also safe, quality and value-added products have to be considered.

The Indian model of milk production is characterised by low input-low output. Apart from a well-conceived strategy for increasing productivity of milch animals through superior breeding, nutrition and health practices, India should learn from best practices across the world. For example, Super Cows in Israel producing 12,000 litre milk a year are the result of advanced feed, technologies and breeding practices. Dairy cooperatives as the peoples’ institutions are the result of dairy farmers’ entrepreneurship to seize the potential of dairy markets in India. These institutions have to be driven like businesses combining professional management with technological expertise. The need is to nurture dairy entrepreneurs through effective training of youths at the village level coupled with dedicated leadership and professional management of farmers’ institutions. This will in the long-term instil efficiency in the system so that farmers are not tempted to demand grants/subsidies and external support for financing the inbuilt inefficiencies of the system.

India needs to promote dairy farming in an organised manner at all levels using household, family farm (progressive & commercial), business farm, and collective farm models instead of considering it as a subsidiary to agricultural farming. Through value addition and product diversification and by adopting advanced scientific intervention and modern technological processing techniques, India can perfect indigenous technologies to cater to the needs of local population and improve export prospects.

(The author is agriculture and rural credit consultant and former deputy general manager, Bank of Baroda, Gujarat. He can be contacted at dramritpatel@yahoo.com)