Taiwan dairy farmers pitch freshness in battle with New Zealand milk

Taipei, Jan. 13 (CNA) The freshness of locally produced milk gives Taiwan'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, according to local dairy farmers.

The import duties were removed under the Taiwan-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Agreement, signed in 2013, which led to the removal of tariffs on all imports from New Zealand and 99.88 percent of goods from Taiwan in phases over a 12-year period.

Facing the impact of the new measure, local dairy farmers are hoping that their most likely competitive edge -- the freshness of their product -- will help them survive, Lee Yi-chien (李宜謙), head of the Department of Animal Industry under the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), told CNA in a recent interview.

In late December, dairy farmers expressed concerns about imported milk not being processed in compliance with Taiwan's product standards for "fresh milk" but still labeled as such, during meetings in Tainan, as well as Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Hualien counties, Lee said.

According to Taiwan's Chinese National Standards (CNS) 3056, fresh milk is made from raw milk, pasteurized and packaged before being refrigerated for consumption.

Locally produced fresh milk has a government-issued sticker of a cartoon cow image certifying it was produced domestically in compliance with CNS 3056.

Imported products generally have a much longer shelf life than locally produced fresh milk (sometimes of up to 90 days) but are still allowed to use the CNS 3056 label and call their products "fresh milk," dairy farmers complained.

Lee said the MOA supports dairy farmers' call for limiting use of the term "fresh milk" to those products with an expiration period of 14 days or below, a standard adopted by local milk producers.

Currently, imported fresh milk from New Zealand and the United States have an expiration period generally longer than 14 days, including one available on Carrefour Taiwan's website called "NuZilk New Zealand Grass-Fed Fresh Milk."

Besides the use of "fresh milk" in both Chinese and English, its label states that the product meets CNS 3056 and has a 90-day expiration period.

Worried dairy farmers

Chen Tung-chieh (陳東杰), who runs a farm with more than 800 dairy cattle in Pingtung County, worried that many beverage businesses are turning to imported milk, and 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 keeps over 1,500 dairy cattle in Hualien, said his production of high-quality milk should help him weather the impact of price competition.

Fan's business pasteurizes raw milk at a lower temperature of 65 degrees Celsius to keep its taste and nutrients.

Lee said dairy farmers' demands on how "fresh milk" is defined will be passed on to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which oversees the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration, along with their demand that drink shops disclose where their milk is sourced from.