---
title: "The Mission of China's Dairy Industry: From 'Getting Milk' to 'Getting Good Milk'"
description: "Recently, a statement from the Dairy Association was pushed to the top of the hot search, sparking discussions from all sides, especially some arguments that attempt to incite public sentiment to attack the entire dairy national standard and further attack China's dairy industry as inadequate, which is truly heartbreaking. Behind the national standard set by the Dairy Association lies the most suitable standard for China's national conditions, forged by countless dairy workers through relentless efforts, and over time, it has evolved, hiding the entire development history of China's dairy industry. For a long time, China has been a large agricultural country, with more draft cattle, fewer beef cattle, and even fewer dairy cows. In the 1960s, the country was in a difficult period..."
author: "澄韵"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2020-08-06"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Nkns9cXH-GxbcxVPgJU9cA"
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# The Mission of China's Dairy Industry: From 'Getting Milk' to 'Getting Good Milk'

> Recently, a statement from the Dairy Association was pushed to the top of the hot search, sparking discussions from all sides, especially some arguments that attempt to incite public sentiment to attack the entire dairy national standard and further attack China's dairy industry as inadequate, which is truly heartbreaking. Behind the national standard set by the Dairy Association lies the most suitable standard for China's national conditions, forged by countless dairy workers through relentless efforts, and over time, it has evolved, hiding the entire development history of China's dairy industry. For a long time, China has been a large agricultural country, with more draft cattle, fewer beef cattle, and even fewer dairy cows. In the 1960s, the country was in a difficult period...

Recently, a statement from the Dairy Association was pushed to the top of the hot search, sparking discussions from all sides, especially some arguments that attempt to incite public sentiment to attack the entire dairy national standard and further attack China's dairy industry as inadequate, which is truly heartbreaking. **Behind the national standard set by the Dairy Association lies the most suitable standard for China's national conditions, forged by countless dairy workers through relentless efforts, and over time, it has evolved, hiding the entire development history of China's dairy industry.**

For a long time, China has been a large agricultural country, with more draft cattle, fewer beef cattle, and even fewer dairy cows. In the 1960s, during a difficult period for the country, there was a poignant story that reflected the early hardships of China's dairy industry.

At that time, orphans in Shanghai welfare homes faced difficulties due to food shortages. In an emergency, Kang Keqing, then director of the All-China Women's Federation, appealed to Premier Zhou Enlai for help, requesting the transfer of milk powder from Inner Mongolia. After careful consideration, Zhou Enlai decided to send the malnourished infants and young children directly to Inner Mongolia, where they would be raised by herders. By 1963, Inner Mongolia had received about 3,000 orphans from Shanghai and surrounding areas.

This story reflects the early difficulties of Chinese dairy products. After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, 500 million Chinese people had only 120,000 dairy cows and 4 dairy factories. **In China, raising dairy cows has natural difficulties. The first reason is the limitation of domestic dairy cow breeds, resulting in insufficient yield. Another long-term problem plaguing China's dairy industry is the inability to transport 'northern milk' to the south. Large pastures are in the north, while the main markets are in the coastal and southern regions, and at that time, China lacked the corresponding refrigeration and transportation technology.**

Therefore, for most ordinary people at that time, milk was a luxury, expensive and out of reach. In the past, drinking milk was expensive and difficult, but now, milk has entered the homes of ordinary people, and it is very easy for us to obtain a glass of healthy, nutritious, good milk.

**-01-**
**The development of China's dairy industry has educated every Chinese person's milk-drinking habits**

In an era of relative information scarcity, how could our parents' generation, those born in the 60s and 70s, get fresh milk produced on the vast grasslands? How could they know the benefits of a glass of milk and then want to consume and buy milk? It was useless to rely solely on experts publishing papers or representatives shouting, 'If you want your children to grow tall, eating only rice and corn is not enough; you must drink more milk.'

Today's dairy industry has conveyed the awareness of milk as a product to every consumer, and companies like Yili, Mengniu, and Sanyuan have played an indispensable role. Our parents' generation's understanding of milk was cultivated during that time.

**Brand is cognition.** In the early days, how did consumers choose when they wanted to drink milk? They still prioritized brand. Therefore, **each dairy company, by growing stronger, has more energy to invest in cultivating new consumer awareness.** Consumers have gone from knowing the benefits of milk, to knowing how to choose a good bottle of milk, to how much milk they need per day, to what type of milk their body needs. These cognitions have been continuously upgraded and influenced bit by bit.

After laying the groundwork for awareness, channels also need to keep up.

**In terms of channels,** how to transport northern milk to the south was once the most troubling problem for the dairy industry. China is vast, with a rural population far larger than the urban population, especially in some remote areas where poor road conditions make it difficult to improve people's living standards.

For this reason, **only with the financial strength of large enterprises can they achieve thorough distribution, delivering goods from the distant grasslands to every store, even to small shops in villages.** It is understood that as of now, Yili serves nearly 1.039 million township and village outlets, and through these sales outlets, over 100 million Yili products reach consumers every day. Similarly, major dairy companies are striving to fulfill this mission and responsibility.

From making every Chinese person aware of milk to enabling them to drink milk, China's dairy industry has overcome all difficulties to complete the basic infrastructure.

**-02-**
**Ten years of sharpening a sword: the quality of Chinese dairy products has steadily improved**

When milk becomes a staple beverage on Chinese consumers' tables and in their daily lives, the responsibility of China's dairy industry also grows. How can Chinese consumers drink better-quality milk? **Chinese dairy companies have also made efforts in product research and innovation, leading to the variety of dairy products available today, such as pasteurized milk, ultra-high-temperature sterilized milk, fermented milk (yogurt), modified milk, reconstituted milk, fortified milk, and low-lactose milk.**

Among them, pasteurized milk and ultra-high-temperature sterilized milk use different sterilization methods. Pasteurized milk needs to be stored at low temperatures of 2-6 degrees Celsius and has a shelf life of only 2-7 days; ultra-high-temperature sterilized milk can be stored at room temperature and generally has a shelf life of 1-12 months. Although the two types of milk are processed differently, they provide the same nutrition. We commonly refer to these as low-temperature milk and ambient milk. These two products are basically raw milk products (fresh milk), which are the most basic dairy products for daily nutritional supplementation and also the most consumed dairy products.

Regarding the quality of raw milk products, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has implemented a quality and safety monitoring plan since 2009.

Through the monitoring data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, we can see that the average milk protein content of fresh milk products in China has far exceeded the national standard level (the national standard is 2.8, while the national average has reached 3.25).

A reporter searched supermarkets and convenience stores and found that the protein content of ambient dairy products from large dairy companies like Yili can reach up to 3.8, while imported dairy brands on sale, such as Devondale, Lanque, Theland, and Müeller, have protein content concentrated between 3.3 and 3.5. Therefore, **it is not necessarily true that foreign milk always has higher protein content than domestic milk.** A bottle of Jindian organic milk can directly surpass many foreign brands.

It is understood that when comparing dairy standards across countries, apart from the EU, no other country has requirements for protein.

Comparison of main indicators of fresh milk standards between China and other countries and regions

In fact, **standards are not the only basis for evaluating the quality of dairy products.** China's standards clearly specify requirements for various indicators such as protein, fat, and total bacterial count, reflecting the country's high level of supervision and requirements for the dairy industry.

The current national raw milk standard is formulated considering China's national conditions and the actual circumstances faced during the development of the dairy industry. Criticizing the national standard solely from the perspective of the relatively low protein standard is very one-sided. In the 1990s, the proportion of small-scale scattered dairy farming in China was relatively high, and the level of farming was relatively low. Although the state has been vigorously supporting large-scale farming, this is not achieved overnight.

Furthermore, the formulation of national standards is the result of collective discussion within the entire industry and careful consideration based on objective facts through multiple investigations and inspections. In 2011, a relevant official from the Ministry of Health clearly stated at a press conference: The formulation of the dairy national standard strictly followed the relevant procedural regulations, and only in the early stages of the process were opinions solicited from dairy companies such as Sanyuan, Bright, Mengniu, Yili, Abbott, Mead Johnson, Danone, and Hunan Yahua. This list includes both major domestic dairy companies and several foreign-invested dairy companies. Moreover, from the most critical review stage onward, all companies are not allowed to participate.

In fact, for food safety, the national standard is only a bottom line. Above the national standard, there are also enterprise standards. It is understood that Yili's enterprise standard is 50% higher than the national standard, and Yili also has an internal control standard that is 20% higher than the enterprise standard. By making the enterprise standard stricter than the national standard and the internal control standard stricter than the enterprise standard, the company further enhances its own food safety risk management capabilities.

**-03-**
**In the next stage, product remains the primary productive force**

In the past, information was scarce and communication was limited. Industry development and progress required time, and product upgrades required the impetus of enterprise development. But now, with the popularity and maturity of the internet, an ordinary consumer can access information anytime, anywhere. They can fully rely on their own information acquisition and cognition to understand categories and products. Therefore, **in the current new era, the mission of every enterprise must return to the product itself.**

In the past, the core issue enterprises addressed was 'whether it exists,' making products visible, purchasable, and affordable for consumers.

In the past decade, the core issue enterprises addressed was 'whether there is enough variety.' With the rise of the national economy and the improvement of people's consumption quality, more and more people want more choices: milk for children, milk for the elderly, milk for the morning, milk for the evening, and so on.

**Looking to the future from the present, the core issue enterprises will address is 'whether it is good.'** Returning to the bottom line of enterprise value creation, they will produce more good milk based on consumer needs and preferences, with higher quality.

Every industry has its own development stages, and the core of each stage must be accomplished by enterprises. In the long history of dairy development, it was the industry that chose Yili and Mengniu, entrusting companies like them with the mission to drive industry progress.

In fact, it is understood that major domestic dairy companies have already established large-scale self-owned pastures, adopting the most advanced breeding technology and standardized production processes. Their products, with the development of the enterprises, are continuously surpassing themselves and even international peers.

Yili's modern rotary milking equipment

**When one stage of the mission is completed, the next stage naturally comes.** The choice of history, combined with the efforts of enterprise management, has made Yili and Mengniu the leaders of the industry. In the next stage, we have reason to believe that enterprises that promote industry development and lead industry progress deserve our continued support. The future is promising.

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