‘Low’ milk consumption in Malta

Victor Anastasi consultant for Malta Dairy Products, says that the Maltese traditionally give their children milk to drink until they are around three or four years old, after which they switch to fizzy drinks and juices.

The reason for this poor milk consumption is mostly cultural.

"In Malta, we did not have cows until the 1930s when undulant fever saw a dwindling sheep and goat population. Goat and sheep's milk was traditionally used for gbejniet and not really for drinking, so when cows became more popular, the culture of drinking milk was simply not there.

"In Denmark, which has the highest consumption of milk in the EU, families will traditionally have a jug of milk at the dinner table. Changing Maltese culture to increase milk consumption is difficult because it is just not something that we even think of when choosing a beverage."

The benefits of drinking milk have been well-documented with the calcium rich drink being important for healthy bones and teeth.

"Increasing the consumption of milk in the population will also reduce the incidence of obesity, where Malta scores pretty high. The alternatives to this natural formula are sugar-laden, artificial drinks.

"Even juices today are so filled with sweeteners and preservatives they are not nearly as healthy as they claim to be."

Studies have also shown that including milk in a controlled diet has resulted in weight loss, particularly around the abdomen. Though the precise mechanism involved in this weight loss is unclear, it is likely to involve the calcium levels in milk and other dairy products.

To this effect the Milk is Good Naturally campaign financed with EU aid and Malta Joint committee for Koperattiva Produtturi tal-Halib and Malta Dairy Products, and the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs was launched. This followed an agreement signed between the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs Malta acting on behalf of and for the account of Malta and Kooperattiva Produtturi tal-Halib Limited and Malta Dairy Products Limited operating jointly to implement a National Milk Campaign over a period of three years that commenced in October 2010.

After eight years of Europe, Malta Dairy Products is still going strong with increasing sales figures every year.

"As with other local industries, sales figured slumped in 2004 when we joined the EU as people tried new products. I even tried some of them myself.

"However, the slump was short-lived as long-life milk is not a premium grade fresh product and local consumers went back to their old habits within a year.

"Unlike other food companies that charged exorbitant prices prior to joining the EU, we have always been prudent with our pricing strategy as milk is a staple food that has to be affordable to all. Therefore, people went back to the cheaper better product quite quickly.

"Though the domestic market today generally goes for fresh milk, some cafes and commercial outlets still use long-life milk for convenience sake."

Keeping the company commercially viable has been a challenge for Malta Dairy Products. Milk is purchased from the herdsmen at some of the highest prices in Europe because animal feed has to be imported and is thus more expensive, while milk is then sold at among the lowest prices in Europe.

A €15 million, investment in the dairy as well as the millions of euros in dairy farms uprading was required to bring production in line with the European milk production directives.

"We live in a changing world where innovation and modernisation is imperative. Joining the EU only made us invest in the machinery by a certain date, however it was something that would have been done eventually anyway. Innovation is ongoing with more machines due to arrive shortly.

"Although government has a 30% share in Malta Dairy Products, it is a privately run organisation and funding for this investment came from our own funds that were generated by sales.

"Improving the range of products certainly helped with a variety of yoghurts which now include the fruit variety, the light variety, the dessert variety and BennaLife - yoghurts with added plant sterols that have been proven to reduce cholesterol levels. Other products include mozzarella, gbejniet and irkotta as well as the range of milk with varying fat content."

Joining the EU has also had an effect on the herdsmen themselves. When Anastasi joined the company 25 years ago, they bought milk from approximately 250 herdsmen. Today the number has dwindled to 126.

"The herd size of an individual herdsman, however, has increased. With EU accession, the smaller herdsmen found it was no longer viable to supply us with milk and found that if they could not comply with the milk directive, then they simply had to shut shop.

"What these farms did was to sell their quotas to other herdsmen who were then able to take advantage of better economies of scale."

Though Malta produces around 18% less than the quota imposed by the EU, dairy farmers are not simply allowed to purchase as much cattle as they like and have to abide by national quotas.

"The efficiency of cattle, as a result of increased animal welfare and better feeds being imported from abroad, has also increased. While 25 years ago the average dairy cow produced 15 litres of milk a day, today the average is around 22 litres and this is still on the increase."