Is Maiqiu'er's explanation of the residue reliable?

In response to the milk quality issue that has attracted much attention recently, Maiqiu'er issued a communication letter: the residual formula milk in the tank line was not effectively cleaned, resulting in the mixing of propylene glycol into pure milk.

What do you think of this result? Do you believe it?

Milk is now a must-have for every family, but the frequent safety issues in the dairy industry make us uneasy. Do we still dare to drink milk? Let's talk about this with everyone.

01. Inference about Propylene Glycol

Let us make a reasonable inference.

First, according to the investigation results in Qingyuan County, Zhejiang Province, Maiqiu'er's pure milk contains propylene glycol, with the detected amount being 0.318g/kg and 0.321g/kg. We keep this concentration in mind.

Then their box of milk is 200ml*20=4L. We don't know how many tons of pure milk can be produced in one batch.

After checking the data online, there may be some inferences, such as: from the perspective of the company's own operation, Maiqiu'er produces 300,000 tons of milk per day (note that this is only its own cows, not including milk supplied by other dairy farmers and dairy factories)

There are currently 5,200 cows in stock, about 15% of which are lactating cows, producing more than 30 tons of milk per day.

The company has been planning to build a production line that can process 300 tons of fresh milk per day since 2016. So, if we assume that one tenth of their fresh milk is used as pure milk, then 10,000 cartons should be possible, which is 40,000L.

According to the concentration of 0.318g/kg and 0.321g/kg, we took the middle value of 0.32g/kg. We don’t need to change the concentration of milk specifically, just treat it as the concentration of water.

So, in other words, for a batch of 40,000 boxes, the amount of propylene glycol should be:

40,000*0.32=12,920 grams=12.9kg.

So how did so much propylene glycol remain? If Mai Qier's explanation is correct, it would be equivalent to 13 kilograms of propylene glycol remaining in the tank line.

02. Food Safety Standards for Propylene Glycol

I looked up the national food safety standard for propylene glycol, "National Food Safety Standard Food Additive Usage Standard":

As you can see, propylene glycol is allowed to be added to pastries and flour products, with flour products at 1.5g/kg and pastries at 3.0g/kg. However, another ingredient called propylene glycol fatty acid ester is allowed to be added to dairy products at a concentration of 5g/kg.

If it is the modified milk in the tank line, then the concentration should be lower. How much modified milk should be left to make the pure milk reach this reduction standard? The remaining modified milk is equivalent to one tenth of the subsequent one?

This residue is a bit exaggerated.

Therefore, the truth can only wait for further investigation by the state.

03. Preliminary Investigation Results

However, preliminary investigations show that this is not the case. First, there are many batches, with problems found in 6 batches.

There were problems with 6 batches of Maiquer. Could it be that not only do you use the milk mixing tank line every time for production, but also there are so many residues every time?

In fact, the preliminary investigation clearly stated: the additives were used beyond the scope.

In other words: illegal addition. Pure milk cannot be added, but Maiqiu'er added it.

So, it’s not honest.

04. About pure milk

Regarding pure milk, the first point is that it must be pure. Taking the common GB_25190-2010 national food safety standard sterilized milk as an example, the requirements for milk are very clear, and it must be made from raw cow and goat milk.

If you make any improvements, it is no longer pure milk, but other milk, such as GB25191 formula milk.

Secondly, pure milk, no myths! I often see people recommend niche milk, and the characteristics are without exception: fragrant, rich, sweet and so on.

In fact, the sensory enjoyment of fragrance, richness, and sweetness is not a problem at all in the modern food industry. Want fragrance? So easy, there are so many food additives and flavors to choose from, even Maotai flavors. Isn't it better to have Maotai milk?

Want thicker? Just as easy, with lots of thickeners to choose from.

As for sweetening? It's easy as pie. We have a lot of sweeteners. The simplest ones are sucrose or saccharin. Adding these can make milk very sweet.

If things go on like this, what's the point of comparing milk? Just compare the additives.

Because of this, our requirement for pure milk has always been: pure!

In fact, unless it is special black technology, I really can't think of how to make it fragrant and sweet when all indicators are lagging behind? For example, the following picture shows the composition of milk from several types of cows:

Basically, unless a certain type of cow makes milk of higher quality, but in the case that Holstein is basically used in China, if you really want to make special milk, it will attract more attention.

05. Industry standards rely on self-discipline

In fact, industry standards have always been about regulating good people, and it is difficult to prevent bad people.

We usually test milk according to standard indicators, and we don't test for substances that theoretically shouldn't exist in milk. For example, you won't test for poisons in milk because it shouldn't be there. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time. After all, there are countless substances in nature, and it is impossible to test them all.

But if someone really adds certain ingredients in violation of the rules, and these ingredients are not on the inspection list, then they can really bypass the inspection.

So all of this must rely on industry self-discipline.

The detection of propylene glycol this time was really accidental, because milk is not tested for this substance. If it was really added, it could have safely obtained the certificate.

This means that sweeteners like saccharin, thickeners like gelatin, and hundreds of other additives will have to be tested.

Finally, I hope that such companies will be severely punished because this is illegal and will cause huge damage to my country's dairy industry.