Dairy farmers have urged the government to bar certain imported milk from using the “fresh milk” label, as fears about competition mount after a trade agreement was signed between Taiwan and New Zealand.
In response, the Ministry of Agriculture said it has already advised the Food and Drug Administration to require dairy with a shelf life of three months or more to be labeled “long-lasting milk.”
New Zealand next year would be permitted to import tariff-free liquid milk to Taiwan as stipulated in the 2013 Agreement between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation (ANZTEC).
Photo: Wang Han-ping, Taipei Times
Foreign dairy producers utilize flash pasteurization to process milk and the average shipping time of their product is about 30 days, Dairy Association of Taiwan secretary-general Fang Ching-chuan (方清泉) said.
That means most imported milk does not qualify as “fresh” under Taiwanese regulations, which require milk with that label to be treated by ultra-high-temperature pasteurization, he said.
Climate change is making business harder for domestic dairy farms as downstream milk processors become unwilling to buy excess raw milk out of concern that it could spoil in the heat, Fang said.
The Taiwanese dairy industry this year is on track to produce about 500,000 tonnes more raw milk than the market can absorb, a problem the authorities have been slow to tackle, he said.
The Ministry of Agriculture’s predecessor, the Council of Agriculture, typically dealt with a glut in production by directing the surfeit to condensed or powdered milk producers, which the ministry has not done, he said.
The ministry’s much-anticipated plan to help dairy farmers did not materialize allegedly due to some disagreements with the National Development Council, Fang said.
There is a lot of fear and anxiety among dairy farmers about their livelihoods and some farmers from Tainan have said that they want to have an audience with president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to ask for help, he said.
Department of Animal Husbandry Deputy Director Lee Yi-chien (李宜謙) said a plan to help the industry, which includes measures to boost marketing and subsidies for replacing 12,000 heifers with poor milk yield, have been submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval.
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