Feeding "safe milk" has always been an important thing for every parent. Nowadays, the brand of milk powder at home and abroad are numerous, and the mothers are difficult to choose a safe milk powder brand. Also, in recent years, infant milk powder incidents are common, so many young mothers are even more eager to choose milk powder for their children. Then most parents will have a common question: should I choose imported milk powder or domestic milk powder? I will interpret the following aspects.
1. Milk source
New Zealand and the European Union have long been known as the “world's best” milk source, enjoying a unique environmental advantage – flat terrain and abundant water resources, providing natural conditions for the livestock industry. At the same time, it is an indisputable fact that domestic ecological pollution is more polluted than in foreign countries.
On the milk source, domestic milk powder producers are true “slightly embarrassed”. Most domestic milk powder companies use the “imported milk source” and “European pure pasture” as the publicity slogan. Moreover, domestic milk companies have been actively introducing foreign fine dairy cows and high-end dairy products.
2. Production process and freshness
A good production process can retain the nutritional value of the raw milk and the taste of the milk to the greatest extent while avoiding contamination of the milk powder or producing inferior products.
In the process of milk powder production and processing, the dry process method and wet process method of milk powder production are important links that affect the milk nutrition and quality of milk powder. At present, the application of the wet process method is more common in imported milk powder. The wet process uses fresh milk as raw material, dissolves all the ingredients into the milk, mixes them in proportion, and sprays them in a specific period to ensure the freshness of the milk powder. The milk powder factory in China mainly uses the dry processes method. The dry process is to pulverize and filter the solid raw materials and physically mix them. However, this production process is likely to cause uneven mixing of trace elements and is inferior in fast solubility.
In terms of freshness, local dairy producers have an advantage. Although the production and processing time is about the same. However, the imported milk powder enters our country by air or sea, plus customs declaration, inspection, etc., the entire process takes a long time. At the same time, imported milk enterprises did not consider export at the beginning of product packaging design, and most of them were based on environmentally friendly carton packaging.
3. Formula features
Each country has its formula for the formula of milk powder. For example, in countries such as Europe and the United States, they have specialized formula laboratories and hundreds of years of experience in formulating milk powder formula. Most of them are produced according to their country standers or international standards and there are differences between China's food safety standards. Infant formulas produced by overseas manufacturers are sold to overseas milk markets. Formulations and packaging are subject to local laws. If you want to enter the Chinese market, you can only adapt to the Chinese standard by changing the formula. The milk powder of the Chinese propaganda words such as “imported milk source” and “original import” that are common in the market belong to the latter.
4. Price
In terms of product prices, in addition to manufacturing costs, the domestic price of imported milk powder also includes purchase costs, transportation costs, and customs duties. With the appreciation of the RMB and the improvement of domestic living standards, the price of imported milk powder has fallen to an acceptable level for domestic consumers, and even cheaper than domestic milk powder. The domestic milk powder is based on the per capita living standard and national conditions. The National Development and Reform Commission formulates the price and continues to use, so the pricing of milk powder is generally low at home, but there are some high-end series, the price of the domestic milk powder brand is constantly refreshing.
5. Package Design
Since the concept of energy-saving and environmental protection in Europe and the United States has been deeply rooted in people's hearts, the carton packaging of infant formula has already become the mainstream in the European and American markets. The carton pack not only saves resources but also the environmentally friendly ink on the carton can be quickly disintegrated. Another reason for the milk powder to be boxed is to reduce the time and chance of the milk powder being exposed to the air so that the nutrients are not easily oxidized and lost.
Most of the domestically produced milk powders are made of a cylindrical alloy can body with a plastic cover, which has good crush resistance and general sealing performance. Different stages of milk powder package in different colors, and they can and the cover is designed separately so that the production cost is high.
Milk powder is an important source of milk nutrients for infants and young children. Therefore, scientific safety and balanced nutrition are the principles for selecting infant formula milk powder. The development of the foreign milk powder industry is earlier than that of China, so it is better in detecting and controlling.