In the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 (1) in regulation 2.1, relating to ‗Standard for Milk the standards for buffalo milk have been revised to 5% fat and 9 % SNF. Earlier these standards were having 6% fat and 9 % SNF.
Normally raw milk in India is being considered as Cow milk, Mixed milk and buffalo milk. As in most parts of the country the farmers are keeping both cows and buffaloes so milk produced is normally mixed.
Till now the automatic milk collection systems are considering all milk above 5% fat as buffalo milk and below 5% as cow milk. There is a difference in purchase prices for both types of milk. Buffalo milk is known for its higher fat . Now with the revised standards the farmers will be expecting higher milk prices with lower fat also. Now the dairy processors will have find new ways to establish the testing of milk through RT PCR to establish the authenticity of milk being supplied by the farmers.
