Quality School Milk Produced by Dairy Enterprises Strictly in Hebei Province

Every morning at 10 o'clock, the pupils at Qingshuihe Primary Schoolin Dingzhou City of Hebei Provincein Chinaenjoy the school milk in the classroom during the class break. “Usually, I will feel a little hungry at this time. A box of sweet milk can provide me with more energy and help me concentrate more in the class.” Said Liu Yixuan,a pupil fromClass 1, Grade 6, Qingshuihe Primary School in Dingzhou City.

The school milk makes a nation strong, so it is of great significance to help pupils access to milk. Major dairy enterprises in Hebei Province strictly control the milk source,and milkproduction and processing operation in schools to ensure that children can have healthy and nutritious "school milk" every day.

The milk in high nutrition and low priceis very popular with children

Recently, the reporter saw a variety of school milk in the exhibition hall of No.1 Factory of Junlebao Dairy Co., Ltd. in Weixian County, Hebei Province. Catering to the students' taste, Junlebao has launched different flavors of "school milk", includingthe favors ofstrawberry, vanilla, wheat and banana. In this way, students fall in love with drinking milk.

In Asia, Japanisone of the first countries toadvocate school milk. In 1954, Japan issued the "School Lunch Program for Health Promotion Act", which stipulated that students shall have 200 ml of milk every day. Now, after more than 60 years of development, Japan has achieved the world miracle of "a cup of milk strengthening a nation".

Program for school milk is an inevitable trend of social development. As early as November 2000, the former Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education and other seven ministries and commissions jointly issued a document to jointly implement the "student milk drinking program". In June 2018, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Revitalization of the Dairy Industry and Ensuring the Quality and Safety of Dairy Products" to vigorously promote the national student drinking milk program, increase the diversity of dairy products, ensure the food quality and safety, and expand the coverage.

On February 26, 2019, Hebei Provincial Department of Education, Hebei Provincial Department of Finance, Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission and Hebei Provincial Department of Agriculture and Ruralaffairsjointly issued “The Pilot Implementation Plan of Nutrition Improvement for Students in the Rural Primary Schools in Hebei Province": the subsidy standard for implementing nutrition improvement plan for students in rural primary schools in Hebei Province was RMB2.5 yuan per day (a box of milk and an egg). Based on 200 days of students' stay in school, each student will be given an annual subsidy ofRMB500 yuan, and the expenses will be covered by the government fiscal plan in full.

All the policy supports reflect that China attaches great importance to children's nutrition and health and the "student milk drinking program".

Not all milk is called school milk. Only the large-scale dairy enterprises with the qualificationare entitled to produce school milk. It is a universal practice in the world for the government to provide milk for the youth. What are the characteristics of school milk? According to Yuan Yunsheng, Secretary General of Hebei Dairy Association,the school milk is characterized bysafety, nutrition, convenience and low price.Thenutrition and qualityof school milk can be compared to that of high-grade milk products on the market, but its price is only 70-80% of that of similar products.

“Students can gain nutrition and microelements and become more concentrated by drinking school milk.” According to Yuan Yunsheng, there are many advantages in promoting the consumption of school milk. On the one hand, it provides more balanced dietary nutrition for students in their growth and development period.On the other hand, it helps students develop good eating habits, establish correct nutrition concept, and drink less or no carbonated drinks.

Yang Zhihao is a student in Grade 3 of Weixian No.2 Middle School. He lives in Changzhuang Township of Weixian County. When he was in primary school, he had been drinking school milk for three years. During that time, he felt that he grew fast and kept physically health. However, after stopping the milk intake, he felt it was hard to concentrate on study, and it was much easier for him to get sick. In middle school, at his insistence, his parents ordered school milk for him.

In order to improve the taste and meet the different needs of the youth, the major dairy enterprises in Hebei Province havediversifiedschool milk products, including not only pure milk, organic milk, prepared milk and other different categories, but also walnut, strawberry, vanilla ice cream and other flavors. Balanced nutrition can effectively improve the nutritional status of children.

Dairy Enterprises Making Efforts to Produce Better “School Milk”

The documentsissued by the General Office of the State Council and seven ministries and commissions put forward clear requirements for each link of the milk source, processing, storage, distribution and drinking of the school milk. A special quality and safety guarantee mechanism has been established, includingspecial pasture, special tank storage, special processing, special storage zone, special vehicle distribution, full-time personnel, special system and special signs.

The quality milk source is the first prerequisite for good school milk. As the self-built pasture, No.1 Pasture of Junlebao Weixian Factory is also one of high-quality milk bases for Junlebao. The Weixian processing factory is next to the pasture. It takes only 2 hours to transport the milk from the airmilk pipeto the factory, which can maximally preserve the active immune factors in the milk and ensure the quality and safety of the milk source.

"To care about the next generation is to care about the future of the country." Yang Guanghua, Director of School Milk Sales Department of Junlebao, said that as a leading dairy enterprise in Hebei Province, Junlebao produces school milk in the most advanced factory area of the enterprise, with the most advanced equipment, the highest standards and the most stringent requirements so as to ensure the safety, nutrition and quality of school milk.

Other dairy companies also strive to produce “school milk”.

Mengniu Diary became one of the first enterprises to obtain the qualification to produce school milk in 2002. Mengniu Future Star always strictly controls the quality of school milk, adheres to higher standards and better quality, and strictly controls every link from production to distribution. Future Star student milk comes from a certified exclusive high-quality milk source base and adopts advanced technologies, such as ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization process and aseptic packaging. The product goes through nine processes from raw materials to finished products, 39 process core steps, 105 index monitoring and 7-day heat preservation experiment. HACCP and other international certification of modern food safety management system have been strictly implemented in the whole process.

On May 18, 2001, Beijing Sanyuan Food Co., Ltd. became the first designated enterprise for producing school milk. “In order to ensure the quality of school milk, we have set up two production lines. Sanyuan has its own pasture and milk source. It introduces modern production equipment and independently develops advanced technology to process high-quality raw milk to ensure the production of healthy, safe and high-quality school milk." Fu Haitao, Assistant General Manager of Special Channel Division of Beijing Sanyuan Food Co., Ltd., said.

As one of the first enterprises to obtain the national designated production qualification for school milk, Yili Dairy Co., Ltd. establishes large-scale and standardized farms for school milk. Instant ultra-high temperature sterilization technology and aseptic packaging areadopted for school milk. Hundreds of testing items are set up in the whole production process. Each box of student milk needs 10 days of heat preservation test and strict product testing before it is delivered to the school. At present, there are 34 counties and districts included in the Yili’s distribution chain, with 580,000 served students every day, and 240,000independently milk-ordered milk consumers.

Hebei New Hope Tianxiang Dairy Co., Ltd. is the first dairy enterprise in Hebei Province for gaining the qualification to produce school milk. It actively publicizes milk knowledge into the campus, hold open day for parents and other activities, regularly organizes special lectures, carries out milk knowledge and food safety knowledge training, distributes "Student Nutrition Meal Knowledge Manual" for free, actively displays brand image and product quality, and boosts consumer confidence. According to Fan Chungang, Deputy General Manager of Hebei New Hope Tianxiang on August 31, 2020, Hebei New Hope Tianxiang officially passed the re-evaluation and acceptance of China's high quality milk project, becoming the first dairy enterprise in HebeiProvinceand even North China to pass the acceptance.