The freshness of locally produced milk gives the nation’s dairy industry an advantage in competing with imported milk from New Zealand, which has gained greater pricing power since the removal of import duties on Jan. 1, local dairy farmers said.
The Taiwan-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Agreement, signed in 2013, removes tariffs on all imports from New Zealand and 99.88 percent of goods from Taiwan over a 12-year period.
Local dairy farmers are hoping that their competitive edge, the freshness of their product, would help them survive the impact of the new measure, Department of Animal Industry head Lee Yi-chien (李宜謙) said.
Photo: CNA
Dairy farmers during meetings last month expressed concerns about imported milk that is not processed in compliance with Taiwan’s standards for “fresh milk,” but is still being labeled as such, he said.
According to Chinese National Standards (CNS) 3056, fresh milk is made from raw milk that has been pasteurized and packaged before being refrigerated for consumption.
Locally produced fresh milk has a government-issued sticker of a cartoon cow, certifying it was produced domestically in compliance with CNS.
Imported products generally have a much longer shelf life than locally produced fresh milk (sometimes up to 90 days), but are still allowed to use the CNS certification and call their products “fresh milk,” dairy farmers said.
Lee said the Ministry of Agriculture supports dairy farmers’ call for limiting the use of the term “fresh milk” to products with an expiration period of 14 days or less, a standard adopted by local milk producers.
Imported “fresh milk” products from New Zealand and the US have expiration periods that are longer than 14 days.
Chen Tung-chieh (陳東杰), who runs a farm with more than 800 dairy cattle in Pingtung County, said he was worried that many beverage businesses are turning to imported milk, and that he opposed labeling imported milk as fresh milk to protect Taiwanese consumers and dairy farmers.
Another dairy farmer in Pingtung, Wu Chuan-wu (吳傳武), said it takes locally produced milk less than three days to hit the shelves, and that it is for certain “fresh.”
Meanwhile, Fan Chun-yen (范君諺), a second-generation dairy farmer who has more than 1,500 dairy cattle in Hualien, said his high-quality milk should help him weather the impact of price competition.
Fan pasteurizes raw milk at a lower temperature of 65°C to keep its taste and nutrients.
Lee said dairy farmers’ call for a change on how “fresh milk” is defined and that drink shops disclose where their milk is sourced from would be passed on to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which oversees the Food and Drug Administration.
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