Fonterra is changing its labels as rival food producer Goodman Fielder pitches its Meadowfresh blue top milk as containing «no added permeate».
«Permeate» and «standardised» are unfamiliar jargon terms outside the dairy industry. So is it all marketing hype, or some much needed honesty for consumers of our favourite dairy drop?
Fonterra is dismissive of its major rival’s permeate-free push.
«We don’t label permeate because it’s a made-up term by marketers to describe a process that really is about taking milk from a cow, getting milk into the bottle to provide consumers with a consistent product year round,» says Rob Spurway, Fonterra head of global operations.
Goodman Fielder says it’s about offering choice and doing less to the milk, in this case, not standardising it by adding a milk by-product to dilute what they sell.
«In New Zealand our cows produce some of the highest levels of protein naturally – with the standarisation process you’re always bringing the protein level below that which is naturally occurring,» says Tim Deane, Goodman Fielder managing director.
SO WHAT IS PERMEATE?
Permeate is a dairy by-product, commonly added back into other whole milk to dilute it – part of the process of standardisation, that also includes skimming off some of the fat.
When milk is ultra-filtered to extract that valuable fat and protein for cream and cheese making and other products, permeate is what’s left over.
«It’s a relatively clear liquid unlike milk,» says Professor Steve Flint, Massey University Professor of Food Safety and Microbiology.
Permeate is mostly water, plus lactose, calcium and other minerals.
As permeate is a milk by-product it can be added to other whole milk without any legal requirement to disclose the process to consumers.
«You can’t add water to milk, but you can add milk components back in so that’s when permeate is quite useful to dilute it back to the requirement you want for your product,» says Dr Flint.
The result is milk that is much lower in fat and protein than the cow produced, which makes it cheaper to manufacture and lets the maker sell those valuable parts elsewhere, for more than they can charge for fresh milk.
Current food regulations allow dairy companies to use permeate to dilute whole milk for retail sale to the point where it contains 3 per cent protein and 3.2 per cent fat without declaring it.
«Obviously you’ve got to make sure that you’re above the legal minimum but then when you’re looking at the cost of production, protein is expensive and so as long as you’ve met the minimum requirement then many companies will just ensure and focus on meeting that requirement and selling it on that basis,» says Tim Deane.
It’s a surprisingly frank admission from a company that is adding permeate to standardise other milk it makes, such as Goodman Fielder’s Cow & Gate brand, and the supermarket brand it makes on contract.
But the budget label does declare that the milk has been standardised. Fonterra currently makes no such claim.
«We don’t put marketing terms like «permeate-free» on our packs – because we believe they’re misleading and cause confusion,» says Fonterra in a statement issued to announce it would now also be declaring when it standardises.
Fonterra also makes a house brand for supermarkets but its announcement only covers its Anchor products.
Regulators argued for an upfront declaration when milk is adjusted, when they set the rules.
«ANZFA proposes not to exempt standardised milk from ingredient labelling on the grounds that it would be deceptive to do so», says a 2001 report obtained by Fair Go, which says the dairy industry here and in Australia had sought the exemption.
In the end, a measure to declare an adjustment using milk components like permeate was proposed, but not included in the rules. That left milk manufacturers obliged only to list the percentages of fat, protein and minerals, and left consumers to puzzle it out if they could.
Now, that should be an easier puzzle to solve.
Source: tvnz
Link: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/have-you-ever-wondered-whats-really-in-glass-milk