After a gap of about two decades,Milkfed (Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited) will again use butter oil,along with skimmed milk powder and water,to reconstitute milk,for supply during the lean summer months. Till now,adopting the standard practice,Milkfed had been using butter,skimmed milk powder and water for the purpose. But this year,it wants to hold on to its butter stock for manufacturing desi ghee. Due to a shortfall in milk supply,the cooperative has not been able to meet the demand for desi ghee in the last few years. The butter oil is being imported from New Zealand through the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) following the approval of the Union government and supplied to Milkfed on zero duty. The reconstituted milk will be added to Milkfeds own supplies in a ratio of 30:70 for every 1,000 litres of milk,300 litres will be reconstituted milk. Verka is the flagship brand of Milkfed,and caters to about 50 per cent demand for fresh milk in the region. At present,the demand for milk supplied through Milkfed in Punjab and Chandigarh stands at approximately 7.5 lakh litres per day. Milkfed Managing Director V K Singh told The Indian Express that they were able to meet this demand through its supplies. The supply,however,goes down in May and June,when milk has to be reconstituted. According to the MD,during the financial year 2009-10,Verka sold 5,000 tonnes of ghee in the domestic market. Owing to a shortfall in milk supply,the cooperative was not able to meet the demand for an additional 500 tonnes. There was a shortfall of five per cent in the desi ghee supplies during the previous financial year too. In addition,the cooperative could not meet about 40 per cent demand for export either. Singh said while butter could be used to make desi ghee,butter oil could not be used for the same purpose. Milk fat is stored for long-term use either as butter or as butter oil. The solid non-fat content in the milk is stored as skimmed milk,and the rest is water. After reconstitution,the same milk is available. But in order to ensure that customers do not find any change in taste,we will use only 30 per cent of reconstituted milk per 1,000 litres, he said. Butter oil for milk since 1970 Butter oil and skimmed milk powder were first used in India to reconstitute milk when Operation Flood,a rural development programme,was launched in 1970. The programme was initiated by the Centre through the NDDB to create a nationwide milk grid. Since there was no infrastructure in place to procure and supply lakhs of litres of milk daily,the NDDB started the process by giving huge stocks of butter oil and skimmed milk to state milk cooperatives. With reconstituted milk,a marketing system was set up,and the procurement system was gradually developed. Till it was finally set up,the butter oil and skimmed milk gifted by European countries was used to reconstitute milk and strengthen the system.
