What are the differences between imported and domestic milk powder?

In recent years, the big-headed dolls and melamine incident have caused people to linger on the psychological shadow of domestically produced milk powder. The previously unveiled “lowest global” issue in China's dairy industry standards has minimized the public’s confidence in domestically produced dairy products. . Yang Yuexin, Director of the Nutrition Evaluation Office of the Nutrition and Food Safety Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and deputy director of the National Dairy Product Standards Committee, said that the relevant national authorities are revising all dairy-related standards, including strict infant formulas for infants, formula standards, and weaning. At the same time, food standards will be further regulated by the companies involved. On the other hand, foreign milk powder has become a popular target for young parents. This year, ACNielsen’s data on the retail situation of the Chinese milk powder industry shows that out of the top 10 milk powder brands in mainland China, five are foreign brands. However, the recent explosion of a well-known foreign brand of milk powder "live worm" incident, has triggered people's thinking: foreign milk powder must be safe? As a high-end product in dairy products, what is the difference between Chinese and foreign standards, processes and finished products?

"Import" includes imported raw materials, imported milk sources and imported raw materials. Because of the food safety crisis of confidence, "import" has become a selling point in the Chinese dairy products market, with "imported" and "imported milk source" and "imported raw materials" milk powder. Accounted for half of the country. “Original import means that the whole production process from raw milk supply from milk sources to production, processing, and packaging is carried out outside the country. The imported milk powder products from the customs have no production and processing links at home, only sales links, and imported milk. Sources and imported raw materials refer to milk sources and raw materials imported in large quantities to the country before being blended, processed, canned and packaged, said Yang Ying, a representative of Zhilingtong Parenting Brand. From a descent, the original imported foreign blood is the most pure. According to industry insiders, some foreign brands' milk sources come from China. Some domestic brands import raw materials of skimmed milk powder from abroad, and then they are reduced to liquid milk, and other ingredients are added to them.

“A lot of equipment and raw materials for Chinese dairy products companies are imported. According to statistics, the use of domestic raw materials in infant milk powder is only 26%, and the remaining 50% of the raw materials are imported from abroad.” Senior Engineer of Dairy Technology Center said, "For example, baby milk powder with whey powder or lactose as the main raw material, at least 46% of the ingredients produced in China are imported (including desalted whey powder and lactose). , anhydrous butter or palm oil, etc.) Domestic raw materials only account for 25%-40%. It can be said that the raw materials used in our infant milk powder are subject to foreign manufacturers and distributors at all levels."

The quality of imported milk powder is best?

Is the quality of the imported milk powder best? “This is not absolute,” said Zhu Peng, Ph.D., a dairy specialty writer at Renn Agronomy College in France. “One thing is for sure, if you complete production packaging abroad, this will reduce the process of transportation and subsequent sub-assembly.” The possibility of raw materials being contaminated.” The tightness and safety during the transportation of large packaging materials is not as good as that of imported imported cans of milk powder.

Imported raw materials, the need to reduce foreign skim milk powder to liquid milk, add other ingredients and then spray drying, or directly in a variety of formula milk powder ingredients in a dry state mixed in a certain proportion, imported finished formula milk powder in the domestic sub-packing , then a more domestic sub-assembly link. There may be secondary pollution in these links per se. Relatively speaking, it is more likely to be problematic. “From the cost point of view, the difference in the cost of importing large bales of powder and then packing and processing the imported raw materials is not as large as one might think. The bigger difference lies in the difference in import tariffs, and the relatively lower tax rate for bulk bales by raw material imports.” Guangzhou Milk Wang Dingmian, chairman of the association, said.

â–  Hot spot Q&A

Q What method is used to identify whether infant formula is imported?

Gao Hongwen, chief childcare advisor of Huanghanyou Co., Ltd.: First of all, it must be stated that the bar code cannot identify the country of origin. The first 2-3 digits of the bar code represent the country or region in which the company was registered, not the location of the milk source. However, it is possible to identify the origin by observing the import information. First, observe the information on the outer package, and the imported cans will state the information and address of the country of origin and import agent. For example, Switzerland's milk powder will specify its country of origin, Switzerland. If it is domestically produced, there must be a QS mark.

Q How can I tell the freshness of milk powder stored in a sealed can?

Gao Hongwen: If “skimmed milk/whole-fat milk” is marked, it means that the milk powder is processed using the liquid milk of the advanced “wet-blended” process. This kind of milk powder is marked with the processing of “skim milk powder/whole-fat milk powder” on the ingredient list. The time is shorter, the procedures for repeated processing are less, and they are also fresher.

■ Standards discuss the broadening of the number of bacterial colonies and the reduction of protein standards in milk hygiene standards. “In all infant formulas, the requirement is the highest during the 0-6 months. Since no milk infants can eat anything until 6 months ago. Professor Nan Qingxian, a professor at the College of Food Science and Technology at the China Agricultural University and executive director of the China Dairy Association, said that under the premise of promoting breastfeeding, children who cannot breastfeed should eat baby milk powder for approximately one and a half years.

When the milk standard was discussed in Fujian in June of this year, “The current industry standard for China’s dairy industry is the lowest in the world”, said Wang Dingmian, chairman of the Guangzhou Dairy Association. He emphasized that what he called “the lowest dairy standard in the world” means “ Raw milk does not mean the end product, ie milk source.

The minimum concentration of milk sources points to “relaxation of total number of colonies” and “reduction of protein standards”—“protein content from the original standard was 2.95 g per 100 g, down to 2.8 g, much lower than the 3.0 g in developed countries”. According to the above criteria, the total number of colonies per milliliter of milk has risen from 500,000 to 2 million, which is 20 times higher than the standards of the United States and the EU of 100,000. The quality of milk sources is poor and it is impossible to make good dairy products. "Wang Dingmian said.

The maximum allowable number of raw milk bacteria for hygienic indicators is 2 million/ml, and some people think that the reduction of raw milk has little effect on the quality of the final product. Because "standardization" can be bactericidal so that bacterial indicators meet the requirements of the final product, you can add protein to adjust. “Although the standard of raw milk will affect the quality of the final product to a certain extent, the key to consumers is the standard of the final product. For example, UHT (Ultra High Temperature Instantaneous Sterilization) standard, pasteurized milk standard, It is most relevant to consumers,” said Zhu Peng.

According to Liu Xiumei, a researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, raw milk is used as raw milk and consumers do not drink it directly. The maximum allowable total number of colonies in raw milk is 2 million CFU/ml. This does not mean that every batch of raw milk is the same. To further encourage the scientific breeding of dairy cows, the process of raw milk purchase will be promoted. The Ministry of Agriculture is working on formulating raw milk grading standards to guide dairy processing companies to rationally use different grades of raw milk to produce differentiated dairy products. Infant formula milk uses the highest grade of raw materials and does not affect subsequent processing.

However, the standard of milk sources does not seem to be so simple, because after sterilization, “high-temperature-resistant bacteria, as well as toxins, metabolites and even bacterial corpses produced by bacteria, are not destroyed by heat, destroyed, and will remain active. In the case of milk, which is rich in nutrients, it may encounter microbes, such as worms and mildew, when it encounters appropriate humidity, temperature, and oxygen," said Wang Dingmian. On the other hand, excessive levels of bacteria require higher sterilization temperatures and longer sterilization times, which can cause the destruction of heat-sensitive substances such as vitamins in raw milk. Therefore, for infant formula milk powder, heat-sensitive ingredients such as vitamins are usually added after sterilization to ensure that the nutritional ingredients in the milk powder conform to the formula milk standards.

Nutritional standards for milk powder are not mandatory standards. Internationally, “In the replacement of breast milk, the final product nutrition standard for infant formula, the world is following the CODEX standard,” said Yan. The CODEX standard is a series of food standards regularly formulated by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It has stringent requirements on the composition and content of nutritional ingredients in formulas, hygiene standards such as pesticide and pesticide residues, detection of pathogenic bacteria, and even the description of packaging and labelling. "This is a recommended standard, not a mandatory standard, and nutrition standards are not mandatory."

"Compared with China's formulation of national standards for dairy products, the use of infant formula in domestic production of infants and young children in European countries and the United States is based on corporate standards. It is filed and tracked by specialized food inspection and technical supervision departments, and audits and supervises corporate standards. The international infant milk powder trade follows the standards for ISO and IDF dairy testing methods.” 差别 The difference between Chinese and foreign standards is stated.

Wang Dingmian also agrees that there are differences between countries and countries in the implementation standards related to infant formula. However, this difference is “only fluctuations in individual and selective items, and it will not be too ridiculous.” Wang Dingmian Examples of infant milk powder standards used in Japan are not the same as the standard for infant milk powder exported to China in Japan, but they do not violate the universal nutritional standards. "The nutritional indicators of infant milk powder in the world are basically the same, and the nutritional elements that can be added are also subject to a great deal of clinical evidence and scientific argumentation. Various countries will make appropriate adjustments in formulas without violating common standards."

"The safety standards for infant formula are very strict. This is recognized by the world. There are limits on the minimum and maximum allowable amounts of various nutrients, the ratio, etc., and the restrictions on microbiological indicators are also very strict." said Zhu Peng. .

“Last year, the entire dairy industry in China was compressed by 45%, and some small and medium-sized dairy companies that are technically not able to be scaled were closed.” Nan Qingxian has a positive attitude toward the quality of domestic infant milk powder. He believes that the current distrust of domestic infant formula milk powder is more It is mostly psychological rather than rational. “Whether it is equipment, technology, or the size of funds, Chinese milk powder is not inferior to foreign milk powder. Many companies have their own milk collection standards, and they will not take the risk of destroying their reputation.”

■ Adding indicators to simulate all indicators of breastmilk as much as possible. “For infant formula, the most important indicator is the functional index. It is all the indicators that simulate breastmilk as much as possible.” Yu said, “In order to be able to produce better indicators Milk powder needs continuous improvement of the production process. In order to ensure that the produced milk powder meets all standards, a lot of product inspections are needed. The cost of these tests and inspections is also relatively high.” Zhu Peng believes that in order to ensure the compliance of infant formula milk powder The cost of the “female emulsification” standard, such as production process improvement and product quality control, is the key. The new research will continue to improve formula ingredients in breast milk. For example, a new clinical study found that formulas supplemented with galacto-oligosaccharides are similar to breast-fed children in infants and young children. Based on the general nutritional standards, new ingredients will be allowed to be added.

There is still a lot of debate among experts on various additive components. One group of experts fear that excessive and excessive additions will affect the safety of infant formula substitutes. Wang Dingmian's view on the "congenitally deficient, acquired amendments" added to the active substances such as protein, calcium, etc., is that "the stuff that is added is not the original one." "There are too many additives, and all the previous additives are only about 20%. Now it has reached 40%-60%. For example, using maltodextrin instead of lactose, the cost price of maltodextrin is 3,500 yuan per ton, and the cost price of lactose is about 15,000 yuan per ton.” Wang Dingmian said, malt paste The essence is originally added as a filler and thickener into milk powder, making the product not easy to clump, instant, and good reconciliation, but the greater the proportion of maltodextrin in milk powder, at the same time saving costs because it Easy to be absorbed, it will easily lead to obesity in children, and parents often have the misunderstanding of “eat in vain and fat is nutrition”, but also indulge in the quiet increase of malt dextrin in the proportion of milk powder. While other elements such as choline, DHA, and probiotics were added to infant formula, “although there is a certain scientific basis, there is no actual benefit.”

Zhu Peng believes that the addition itself should distinguish illicit substances such as melamine from constantly improving formulation additives, such as DHA or probiotics, which is a proposed additive based on new research results. In addition, some special formulas require the addition of maltodextrin and even starch to make the formula more viscous, so that infants and young children are less likely to spit nausea. There are also children who are born with lactose intolerance and need to be hydrolyzed to galactose and glucose, not because of cost reasons.

â–  Milk powder production process dry process Wet France wet multi-wet process, domestic multi-dry dry process and wet process, are two different processing techniques. The good product should be based on a good base powder, good mixing equipment. Yan said that the wet method involves dissolving all the components first and then mixing them in proportions before spraying them. The dry method involves mixing the solid materials through smashing, sifting, and mixing them physically. The process is relatively simple. The milk powder processed by these two technologies has certain differences in color and density, and has advantages and disadvantages. The wet method is better in color and reconstitution solubility, the loss of wet nutrients is larger, and the dry method is more difficult to control in uniformity.

Zhu Peng believes that the wet method is to first liquefy and dry the formula ingredients in different proportions, which will result in a very even mixing, and the dry-mixed milk powder will have poor instant solubility. The differences in trace elements in formulas using dry or wet methods and milk use are different. Some formulas are difficult to dry by wet methods and dry methods are chosen. But overall, the imported milk powder uses more wet process technology. Wang Dingmian believes that most foreign countries use wet processing to produce milk powder for domestic use.

High-temperature spray vs. low-temperature spray High-temperature spray easily loses active liquid Concentrated liquid formula In a spray dryer, mist is sprayed through a high-pressure jet and mixed with the hot air passing through the dryer to produce milk powder. The difference between high-temperature spray and low-temperature spray is that the former uses a higher air temperature, such as about 220 degrees Celsius, and the latter uses a lower air temperature, for example, around 170 degrees Celsius. Zhu Peng said that in terms of enterprises, the production cost of high-temperature spray is lower than that of low-temperature spray. Low-temperature spray drying is better for keeping nutrients in milk powder and better solubility.

Wang Dingmian said that China's infant milk powder adopts the high-temperature spray processing technology that is generally eliminated in foreign countries. The high-temperature spray loses the active substances such as vitamins and proteins in milk powder. Even if artificial vitamins and proteins are added later, it meets the detection standards. What is added is not the original substance.