Local dairy industry ready to meet shortage

by Carol Aloysius

The local dairy industry is getting ready to counter any milk shortage after the ban on certain brands of imported milk from New Zealand and Australia is imposed.

According to sources, Sri Lankans consume around 900 million litres of milk annually of which only 300 million litres are produced locally.

A high-ranking official of the industry said, “We intend maximising our present production to prevent any shortfall. We have 2,000 milch cows imported from New Zealand which are being milked . We get around 20 litres of milk from a cow.

We also plan to get down another 2,500 milch cows from Australia,” he said.

Health Ministry sources said a proposal to appoint a ministerial committee to handle the milk powder issue was due to be presented in Parliament.

Health Ministry sources said that fresh milk which was not pasteurised or homogenised was more nutritious and safer than powdered imported milk. “If fresh milk is not freely available, take curd instead as it also has protein and calcium. However, too much milk can lead to too much calcium causing kidney stones”, GMOA spokesman Dr. Nalinda Herath told the Sunday Observer.

“While supporting the Health Ministry’s stand on drinking fresh local milk instead of imported milk powder, he said that since we have enough calcium in natural water there is no need to drink milk, as any extra calcium needed can be obtained from small fish.”