Suggestions on the Establishment of Quality and Safety Standards for Dairy Products

This is an article published on the dairy industry information network some time ago, which suggests the establishment of somatic cell standards. I don't know if I have posted it in the herdsmen, but I posted it today to share it with you. There are some details about the effect of somatic cells on dairy products, please refer to it! Suggestions on the formulation of dairy quality and safety standards at the end of last year, infant milk powder in China contained excessive melamine, resulting in a large number of kidney stones and deaths of children in various provinces across the country. While considering the product quality and corporate ethics of milk powder processing enterprises, it also highlights the common quality and safety supervision problems of domestic milk sources. Dairy product safety is a major issue related to health and people's livelihood, and it is also an issue that national leaders and relevant ministries attach great importance to. As early as September 19, 2007, Premier Wen Jiabao supported the convening of an executive meeting of the State Council, requiring "local governments at all levels to promote the sustained and healthy development of the dairy industry as an important and urgent task." On September 27, 2007, the State Council issued the opinions of the State Council on promoting the sustained and healthy Development of the Dairy Industry, which clearly pointed out that "improving the quality of raw milk should be put in a prominent and important position". On October 9, 2008, the State Council issued the regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Dairy quality and Safety.... It should be said that the government has made extraordinary efforts to pay attention to the development of the dairy industry and the quality of dairy products. On November 20, 2008, after the milk powder incident, 13 ministries, including the National Development and Reform Commission, jointly issued the outline for the rectification and Revitalization of the Dairy Industry, which clearly stated that "the revision of the standard should be completed within one year and be implemented as a national compulsory standard." Enterprises and localities are encouraged to establish stricter corporate and local standards. " At present, the industry and all sectors of society are paying close attention to the introduction of the new standard, and the dairy enterprises are stepping up their research and deployment of a series of work after the introduction of the new standard. For this reason, the author suggests that the somatic cell count (SCC) index should be included in the newly revised national fresh milk quality and safety standard. Somatic cell count (SomaticCellCount), referred to as SCC, refers to the number of somatic cells per milliliter of milk, which is mainly composed of white blood cells, accounting for 99%. SCC is a dynamic biological phenomenon, which can be used as an important index to judge the quality of milk. It not only reflects the degree of bacterial infection in the breast of dairy cows, but also can be used to estimate the loss of milk production of dairy cows. At present, the national standards of various milk producing countries have adopted SCC as a mandatory indicator of fresh milk quality standards, and linked to the price of fresh milk to encourage the continuous reduction of SCC. At present, many countries are still considering the implementation of stricter SCC standards to promote dairy farms to continuously improve the level of scientific breeding and management, so as to ensure the continuous improvement of fresh milk quality. First, the important position and problems of the dairy industry dairy products are important "vegetable basket" products, which are closely related to the lives of the people. As milk is rich in nutrition and can greatly improve people's physical quality, more and more countries have closely linked milk with the physical quality of their citizens. Japan, which is in Asia with China, realized the slogan of "one glass of milk is strong for a nation" in the 1960s and 1970s. Thailand established a national milk promotion committee in 1985, while the Indian government launched a "white revolution". The total milk output ranks first in the world, and the per capita milk volume has increased from 38 kg to 90 kg. At present, the per capita milk volume in China is less than 30 kg. Since the reform and opening up, China's dairy industry has experienced rapid growth, and has made positive contributions to enriching urban and rural markets, optimizing agricultural structure and increasing farmers' income. The development of dairy industry, including feed production, improved breed cultivation, cow feeding, epidemic prevention, milk purchase, cold chain storage and transportation, milk processing, marketing and trade, catering and health care, etc., is an ultra-long industrial chain. it plays a huge linkage role in the common development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Dairy industry accounts for more than 40% of the total agricultural output value in developed countries on average. At present, the proportion of China's dairy industry in agricultural output value is only 3%. If it is raised to 13%, it will create an industrial pull space with an output value of 350 billion yuan. Therefore, there is still huge room for the development of dairy industry in terms of production quantity, quality and deep processing capacity. However, the rapid development of China's industrial chain itself has accumulated a large number of problems. Among them, the scientific breeding level of dairy cows in the upper reaches of the industry is very backward, which seriously restricts the development of the whole industry and gives birth to a series of problems, which has become the most concentrated and prominent problem. The infant milk powder incident in 2008 is a shock and labor pains caused by deep-seated contradictions in the industry, which makes the whole industry finally realize that the most fundamental problem of the dairy industry is the milk source. This is the key to ensure the rapid, healthy and sustainable development of China's dairy industry. Policy guidance must play an important role in the transformation of the dairy industry. Among them, the dairy industry standards must play a role in the form of coercive force. 2. The significance of somatic cell count included in the quality and safety standard the author and many experts in the industry strongly advocate that the somatic cell count (SCC) should be included in the newly revised national fresh milk quality and safety standard. This recommendation is mainly based on the following facts: 1. Somatic cell count (SCC) is closely related to dairy quality. According to the general knowledge of the international dairy industry, the lower the SCC, the higher the quality of fresh milk; the higher the SCC, the greater the impact on the quality of fresh milk, and has a great adverse impact on the shelf life of fresh milk and the output, quality and flavor of other downstream dairy products such as yogurt and cheese. Therefore, it is considered by national experts as one of the most important indicators in the quality standard of fresh milk. The effect of SCC on the quality of milk is embodied in: too high SCC, it is easy to reduce the proportion of non-fat solids in milk, affect the germicidal efficacy of the product, shorten the shelf life of the product, easily lose the original natural flavor of milk, and reduce the quality of the product. The lipase contained in SCC can break down fat, produce rancidity smell, reduce the amount of casein and reduce the production of cheese. Too high SCC can prevent the reproduction of lactic acid bacteria, which has an adverse effect on the production of yoghurt. Too high SCC will also lead to the increase of protein hydrolase activity to produce bitterness and the increase of sodium and chloride ions to produce salty taste. 2. Somatic cell count (SCC) reflects the health and scientific breeding level of dairy cows, and it is not easy to cheat. SCC can accurately reflect the health degree of cattle, thus reflecting the scientific breeding level of dairy farms, and is an indicative index of the scientific breeding and management level of dairy farms. To put forward the request to SCC is to put forward the requirement to the scientific breeding level of dairy farm. And unlike protein, antibiotics and other indicators can be falsified, SCC can not be changed by adulteration and other means, it is necessary to really improve the level of pasture farming and management in order to improve. SCC is a dynamic biological phenomenon. The total milk SCC of pasture can reflect the incidence of mastitis and the health status of cattle. Individual milk-like SCC can reflect the infection degree of mastitis and can be used to estimate the loss of milk production of dairy cows. A large number of scientific studies have shown that when the total milk sample SCC of a farm is higher than 500000, 50 to 60 percent of the cows suffer from the incidence of recessive mastitis, indicating that the scientific breeding and management level of the farm needs to be improved, and there are many hidden dangers in the quality and safety of fresh milk. it is necessary to investigate all aspects of daily feeding management to find out the causes of the problems. Therefore, SCC is the most important index used to judge the health of cattle and the level of pasture management in the quality standard of fresh milk. 3. Somatic cell count (SCC) sends disease prevention and control signals, so as to act as soon as possible to reduce losses. SCC can accurately reflect the incidence of herd mastitis, which is the disease that causes the greatest loss in the dairy industry. General knowledge of the industry, to solve mastitis "focus on prevention rather than treatment". SCC is the only reliable indicator for sending out "timely prevention and control" signals. Taking early prevention and control measures under the signal of SCC index can greatly reduce the loss caused by mastitis and increase the benefit of dairy farmers. The incidence of mastitis and the resulting loss of milk production in a farm can be measured by SCC. The cause of too high SCC is recessive mastitis, which is difficult to detect with the naked eye and no abnormal milk. Because of this, the important quality index of SCC is ignored by many domestic manufacturers, and even ignored by the majority of dairy farmers, resulting in huge losses. Scientific research shows that about 200 million cows in the world have mastitis, resulting in a global loss of $30 billion a year. The investigation and research of different institutions and regions shows that the economic loss caused by this in our country is more than 10 billion yuan every year. Taking timely prevention and control measures under the signal of SCC index can greatly reduce the loss of milk production, medical expenses and additional veterinary wages caused by mastitis, increase the benefit of dairy farmers and promote the improvement of scientific breeding level. 4. Countries all over the world adopt somatic cell count (SCC) as the index of fresh milk quality and safety standard. All the dairy developed countries in the world have incorporated SCC into the national standards for the quality of fresh milk, and the trend is to put forward more and more stringent standards for SCC. China's standards should not be lacking, otherwise there will be a growing gap with the international dairy industry, which will cause greater obstacles to China's dairy products export. According to the latest EU standards on the quality of raw milk, SCC should be less than 400000 / ml. New Zealand and Australia are major exporters of dairy products, both of which adopt the EU's SCC below 400,000 / ml. In fact, many countries are still considering introducing higher standards. New Zealand is considering the national implementation of the SCC 300,000 / ml standard, and its goal is to reach the SCC 200,000 / ml. The current standard adopted in Canada is SCC 500,000 / ml, but the EU SCC 400,000 / ml standard is being considered. At present, US dairy products cannot enter the EU market because the US SCC standard is 750000 / ml, which falls short of the target set by the EU. To this end, the United States is considering revising the national standards on SCC. Japan also has strict regulations on quality, and its SCC is generally less than 200000 / ml. 5. The successful practice in Shanghai has proved that the monitoring of somatic cell count significantly promotes the progress of dairy industry. In 2006, Shanghai put SCC indicators into the mandatory indicators of raw milk purchase quality testing, and tried out the method of pricing according to quality, which is in line with international standards, using price leverage to guide dairy farms to improve the level of breeding and the quality of fresh milk. Three years' practice shows that it is effective to use price lever to guide dairy farms to improve breeding level and fresh milk quality, and to control SCC, which has greatly promoted the continuous improvement of breeding level, the improvement of fresh milk quality and the transformation of breeding mode in this area, which shows that a good dairy quality standard is very important to promote the sustained and healthy development of dairy industry. In early June, Shanghai has decided to once again put forward higher requirements for SCC, further in line with international standards, with a view to using international standards of dairy products to meet the 2010 World Expo. In the words of experts from the Shanghai Dairy Industry Association, the development of Shanghai's dairy industry has greatly benefited from "holding the SCC by the nose". Third, it is suggested that at present, there are domestic experts who are worried that in view of the fact that the SCC level of pastures in our country is generally too high, if SCC is included in the compulsory standard, it will have an impact on some dairy farmers, hoping to fully grasp the SCC situation of different farming models and conditions in different regions before revising the standard. It should be said that this concern is not unreasonable. However, after investigation and study and extensive discussion, we believe that: first, we should not give up eating for fear of choking. The practice of our country has proved that if it is not included in the compulsory standard and linked to the milk price, it is impossible to expect the practitioners to automatically and actively improve SCC, which is bound to delay the improvement of the scientific breeding level of the dairy industry and delay the opportunity for development. Second, practice has proved that the existing technical solutions can solve the SCC problem in a short period of time. Recently, a small number of domestic dairy enterprises began to realize the importance of SCC and began to monitor SCC in the purchase of fresh milk. Practice shows that dairy farms that attach importance to SCC indicators can significantly reduce SCC within 2 months and reach the standard by improving feeding management and strengthening disease prevention and control. Many domestic farms and communities have reached a level below 400000 (EU standard) through efforts, and some even reach the level of 200000 (New Zealand target), most of which can be reduced to less than 750000 (American standard). Third, the new standard should be moderately ahead of the current situation of the industry. The promulgation of new standards by the state is a very serious matter, which will not be revised repeatedly within a few years. A standard that lacks or lags behind key indicators will cause incalculable losses to the development of the industry. The level of indicators may be discussed, but whether the indicators are directional or not is a matter of principle. Historical experience has repeatedly told us that solving problems in reform and development is the fundamental way out. Holding back because of concern is bound to lead to a more passive situation. To sum up, the inclusion of SCC indicators in the new national standards for dairy quality and safety grasps the key issues of key links and leads to the nose of fresh milk quality and safety standards, which is bound to have a positive, extensive and far-reaching impact on the continuous improvement of fresh milk quality in China, the continuous improvement of scientific breeding level, the avoidance of huge economic losses caused by cow mastitis, and then in line with international standards. It is a measure of great practical significance to the sustained and healthy development of China's dairy industry and the improvement of national physical quality. -- the quality of milk source is still in the middle link of monitoring. At present, a lot of state subsidies have been built in milking parlors, which can meet the general requirements.