Vadodara: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s ( FSSAI ’s) directive asking companies to stop using labels such as A1 and A2 on dairy products like milk, ghee, butter, and curd has forced small and emerging food business operators and even GCMMF to change their milk portfolios. At a time when several companies, including privately owned dairy farms, have mushroomed selling milk and its products as A2 by claiming it to be a healthier variant and charging a premium, the statutory body under the Union ministry of health and family welfare has instructed all the food business operators to “remove such claims from their products.” FSSAI’s directive issued on Aug 21 states that food businesses are selling/marketing milk and milk products such as ghee, butter, curd, etc.
, in the name of A1 and A2 under FSSAI license number. “The distinction between A1 and A2 milk is based solely on the structure of a protein called beta-casein, which can confuse consumers,” the advisory states. FSSAI has given six months to companies to exhaust their existing products which have A1 and A2 labels, after which these shouldn’t carry such claims.
Amul has traditionally termed A2 milk as a “marketing gimmick.” But over the years, it has also has rolled out milk variants including Deshi A2 cow milk, A2 buffalo milk, and A2 Gir cow milk (in pet bottles) albeit without charging a premium unlike private players. In 2016, ‘Amul Deshi’ A2 cow milk of Kankrej cow was launched by Banas Dairy, a member union of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).
“We fully comply with the FSSAI directive. The mention of A2 on ghee products is completely misguiding as ghee does not have any protein, neither A1 nor A2,” said GCMMF’s managing director Jayen Mehta, adding that Amul will also remove the mention of A2 in the labels on pouches, packets, and bottles of cow and buffalo milk. A Rajkot-based private firm that sells Gir cow milk has also decided to withdraw the A2 claim.
“The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) had said that all the indigenous breeds of cows produce A2 milk. We used to write A2 milk to differentiate that it is not the milk of a Jersey cow. We will now write Gir cow milk only,” said Ajay Patel, a partner in the firm that sells 1,000 litres of milk every day in Rajkot and Ahmedabad from the gaushala in Rajkot’s Kankot area which is home to around 3,500 cows.
He, however, said that FSSAI’s order won’t impact their sales. “It will save customers from getting misguided by those who are not selling pure milk of indigenous cows,” he said. (With inputs from Nimesh Khakhariya in Rajkot).
