The Press FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1971. A substitute for fresh milk?

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32588, 23 April 1971, Page 8

The Press FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1971. A substitute for fresh milk?

Within a few months (the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company expects to be producing an “ instant ” milk powder in large quantities. The plant ordered by the company for its factory at Te Rapa, near Hamilton, will make 8000 to 12,000 tons of the powder a year, according to the company’s managing director. This company seems to have made considerable advances towards producing a substitute for fresh milk that will be acceptable to tea and coffee drinkers. The use of improved powder might well go far beyond this; if so, it is likely to have a very considerable effect on the attitude of both milk producers and consumers towards the supply and price of fresh milk. Recent market research at Massey University has suggested that the demand for fresh milk would not be much affected by increases in price: in other words, there is, at present, no generally acceptable substitute for fresh milk. Consumers do not readily turn to condensed milk or milk powders except for special purposes. Indeed, the Massey findings are that powdered milk—as it is now known—would be best promoted in the New

Zealand market for particular uses and not as a general substitute for fresh milk. Although the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company does not expect its new product to be reconstituted as liquid milk, the advance might greatly influence decisions on the price of milk, the continuing of the subsidy on town supplies, and on the premium paid to producers for maintaining their production throughout the year. At 4 cents a pint, milk is a very cheap food; but the days in which milk can be delivered to households throughout the year at this price must be numbered. Nowhere else in the world is milk delivered so cheaply. The price paid to the dairy farmer for milk is related to the price of cheese sold overseas; the price to the consumer is held by the State subsidy. The amount of this subsidy—now about $l5 million a year and more than 2 cents a pint— also reflects the cost of collection, treatment, and distribution. The subsidy is of no small significance in the budget of a household using a large amount of milk. A cheap, convenient, and readily-stored substitute for fresh milk might go far towards reducing the demand for the costly production of milk in winter. It might lessen the need for daily deliveries: and it might be used to maintain the quality of town supplies Changes in the price of milk, in the amount of the subsidy, and in the cost of producing and handling milk will have to be faced eventually. A successful new milk powder would alter all existing calculations based on the preferences of consumers, on considerations of public health, and family living costs; it would also change fundamentally the present pattern of production, treatment, and deliveries.