Fresh milk labels mislead consumers

CEBU, Philippines - Stakeholders of the country’s dairy industry are urging the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) to protect the consumers of fresh milk as well as the industry by reviewing its definition of fresh milk and to label only pasteurized milk as such.

According to the national chairman of the Dairy Confederation of the Philippines (DairyCon) Danilo Fausto, it is misleading to label ultra-high temperature (UHT) treated milk, which are mostly imported, as fresh milk.

“It is the right of the consumers to be adequately informed of the processes involved and the content of the dairy products made available to them. The stacks of UHT milk bearing the label fresh milk is not allowed in New Zealand. In the Philippines, most consumers have been led to believe that UHT milk in cartons is fresh milk,” he said.

“International references and authoritative technical descriptions overwhelmingly affirm that milk. The former executive director of the Philippines’ Dairy Training and Research Institute, Dr. Virginia Barraquio, who holds a PH.D, in microbiology, has testified before the BFAD and submitted reference materials in support of this,” Fausto added.

He said that Barraguio’s study has “significantly greater authority” than the materials that serve as basis of the Administrative Order No. 132 series of 1970 of the Department of Health, the regulation prescribing the standard of identity and quality of milk and milk products.

The regulation defined pasteurized milk as that “which has been subject to a temperature not lower than 63oC (145oF) and holding it continuously at that temperature for not less than 30 minutes, or at least 72oC (161oF) and holding it continuously at that temperature for at least 15 seconds. The milk should be promptly cooled to 10oC (50oF) or lower. Provided that nothing in this definition shall be construed as barring any other pasteurization process which has been recognized to be equally efficient and approved by health authorities.”

“(The definition is inadequate) as it specified merely a minimum temperature and time without consideration for the effect of the process on the product itself.”

The DairyCon is therefore urging the BFAD to label only pasteurized milk as fresh milk. The label will only be effective for six months from the date of the production.          

While proper labeling of milk protects consumers, this will also help protect local producers of fresh milk, an industry that will help the government uplift the lives of those living in poverty, especially in the rural areas.

Grace Cenas, National Dairy Authority (NDA) Visayas Island Office Regional Manager, said dairying has been uplifting the lives of the farmers, who are earning as much as P7, 000 a month for one dairy animal.

“They themselves have testified to this. Because of dairying, they have sent their children to school until they graduate college. They are able to put decent food on the table three times a day and give their families the basic needs,” she said.