Throughout human history, milk has been the beverage that has accompanied humanity the longest and is most inseparable from daily life, second only to water in importance.

A Brief History of World Milk Development

Evidence suggests that the earliest cattle domestication dates back to 12,000 BC in the Middle East.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, milk is mentioned 47 times. The Promised Land that God gave to the Israelites was described as "a land flowing with milk and honey." In fact, in many parts of Central Asia, until quite recently, the number of cattle a person owned was still a primary measure of wealth.

Researchers studying human remains from about 7,000 years ago found that humans at that time lacked the genes to digest milk without side effects.

Scientists believe that humans gradually adapted to drinking milk after the rise of livestock farming, such as cattle and sheep, which also gave early Europeans a greater chance of survival.

In contrast, billions of people in Africa and Asia still cannot digest milk due to genetic issues, as their bodies do not produce enough lactase.

A mural in a temple in ancient Babylon from 6,000 years ago is the earliest historical record of humans obtaining and drinking milk discovered to date.

During the same period, ancient Egyptians already used milk as offerings. Hathor, the goddess of fertility and love in Egyptian mythology, was depicted with a cow's head.

Recent archaeological excavations in Switzerland and elsewhere show that Europeans had already mastered the technique of making cheese from milk by that time.

At the end of the 13th century, Marco Polo mentioned in his famous "Travels of Marco Polo" that Genghis Khan's troops carried dried powdered milk as food during long marches. This is perhaps the earliest record of milk powder.

At the end of the 15th century, when Columbus sailed to the Americas for the second time, he brought cows on board.

In the 16th century, when Protestants began migrating to the Americas in large numbers, English law even stipulated that every ship bound for the New World must carry one cow for every five passengers.

In the early 17th century, the Jamestown colony in the Americas welcomed its first cows. To protect these precious animals, the colonial rulers even enacted a cow protection law.

Until the late 18th century in Europe, milk consumption was not widespread, and most milk was produced and consumed locally. The reasons were that there was a common belief that drinking milk directly was dangerous, especially for young children; some doctors even accused milk of spreading leprosy. The "Treasury of Health," published in 1607, described the symptoms of lactose intolerance and warned people to consume dairy products cautiously.

Additionally, before the 19th century, due to the lack of safe sterilization and preservation methods, milk was a high-risk food. Freshly milked milk was often contaminated by bacteria, and in hot seasons, it could spoil within hours. Therefore, for centuries, milk and cheese, known as "white meat," were the main food sources for the poor, while the wealthy avoided them, and frequent consumption of dairy products was even considered a sign of poverty.

Around the 1850s, milk became a mass consumer product in Britain. This was due to the increase in disposable income of urban residents, which allowed people to control their food choices and consumption.

In 1856, American Gail Borden obtained a patent for producing condensed milk. During the process, Borden discovered methods to extend milk's shelf life by boiling at high temperatures to sterilize and adding sugar to inhibit bacterial growth.

In 1858, Gail Borden built the world's first condensed milk factory in the United States, and the canned condensed milk was supplied to the army during the American Civil War, proving the practicality of the technology.

In the 1860s, the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company was founded in Switzerland, the first enterprise in Europe to produce concentrated milk.

In 1866, Nestlé was founded.

In the early 20th century, Anglo-Swiss merged with Nestlé, and over the following decades, they expanded factories everywhere, becoming a giant in the European dairy industry.

The First Milk Revolution: The Invention of Pasteurization

In 1862, French scientist Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization, which involves briefly heating milk to kill spoilage-causing bacteria and extend shelf life.

Pasteurization greatly improved the safety of milk, officially removing it from the category of "natural products" and turning it into a commodity produced on a large scale in the industrial age. However, because pasteurization only kills common pathogenic microorganisms in raw milk and cannot eliminate spores, this type of milk must be refrigerated at around 4°C, with a shelf life of generally about 7 days, otherwise it spoils. This limited the transportation radius of milk, preventing its wider distribution.

At the end of the 19th century, the advent of trains made transporting liquid milk more convenient.

In the 20th century, the invention of refrigerators made milk preservation easier. Drinking milk had become a daily habit for urban residents in the United States and Europe.

In 1915, the earliest milk management organization, the American Dairy Council, was established in Chicago, with one of its goals being to conduct promotional campaigns to promote dairy products.

The outbreak of World War I led to a surge in market demand for dairy products; canned milk and condensed milk were used to improve soldiers' malnutrition; and the large number of women working during the war also led to a widespread reduction in breastfeeding, increasing infant milk consumption.

In 1918, Elmer McCollum, the American dietary scientist who discovered vitamin A, stated: "People who drink milk are taller, live longer, and are more aggressive." This claim influenced society's perception of milk, and U.S. dairy production increased by one-third over the next decade, gradually shaping milk as a "perfect food."

The Second Milk Revolution: The Invention of UHT Aseptic Packaging

In the 1940s, aseptic processing and packaging technologies were invented, and after the 1960s, they were industrialized by Tetra Pak in Sweden, bringing a new revolution to milk.

UHT aseptic packaging technology expanded the transportation radius of milk and was widely welcomed upon its introduction. In Western European countries, from 1974 to 2000, the market share of UHT milk increased from 16% to 54%.

In 1961, the International Dairy Federation designated the Tuesday of the third week of May each year as "International Milk Day."

The Japanese government, starting in 1964, required that milk be included in the lunch provided to students in every school.

A Brief History of Milk Development in China

In 202 BC, Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty was sent on a mission to the Western Regions, opening the Silk Road, exchanging silk and porcelain for exotic treasures, and bringing back rich dairy products.

It is said that the earliest dairy cows in China were introduced to the Yunnan border area about 400 years ago, after early European missionaries and colonists crossbred them in Southeast Asia.

The earliest cattle farm was established in 1644 at Xihua Mountain in Beijing, the year the Ming Dynasty fell.

In 1874, the French army brought "yellow and white spotted cows."

In 1880, the British introduced "Holstein cows."

In 1898, Russians also introduced dairy cows in the Sanhe area of Hulunbuir League in Inner Mongolia.

In 1901, the convent of Xujiahui Catholic Church in Shanghai introduced "black and white spotted cows."

In 1908, "Qigong Milk Company" established a branch in Shanghai, China, and in 1930 it was renamed "Nestlé Milk Company," which is the predecessor of today's "Nestlé."

In 1910, merchants from Germany, Russia, Italy, Japan, and other countries living in Tianjin had already begun operating dairy farms.

In 1923, China's earliest milk industry association, the "Shanghai Milk Industry Association," was established.

Around 1928, China's dairy industry saw its first investment boom. The "West Lake Condensed Milk Company" raised more than 400 cows, making it the earliest and largest dairy farm in China at that time.

Nanjing Weigang was originally the site of the "Imperial Horse Farm" of the Ming Dynasty. In 1928, Soong Mei-ling converted it into a "cattle farm," and there was even a man named Cao Jincai who raised cows and delivered milk for her.

In 1937, on the eve of the fall of Nanjing, the Nationalist government moved to Wuhan, and Soong Mei-ling immediately ordered the cows to be moved to Chongqing, and later to Chengdu.

In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, the national annual milk production was 217,000 tons, averaging only 0.4 kilograms per person per year. At that time, milk consumption was still mainly concentrated in a few large cities such as Beijing and coastal areas, among a small number of affluent families and certain special groups.

After the reform and opening up, milk consumption began to become widespread.

In the 1990s, Sweden's Tetra Pak brought aseptic composite paper packaging from Northern Europe to China, directly promoting the arrival of the "golden decade" of China's dairy industry, making milk a daily necessity for every household, "flying into the homes of ordinary people."

Currently, in China's liquid milk market, UHT aseptic packaging technology processed room-temperature milk plays the "leading role," with a market share of about 70%.

Source: Food Business -END-