A TRIAL shipment of almost 1000 litres of fresh Norco milk has been successfully delivered to China under a new cold chain “pipeline” that cuts delivery time and could open up fresh Australian milk exports.
Dairy Connect NSW, dairy co-operative Norco and international export consulting company Peloris Global Sourcing (PGS) have confirmed the trial shipment was completed last month, with the cold chain used taking milk from Australian dairy farms to Chinese tables within seven days.
Norco now has plans to start commercial shipments of its full range of fresh milk products within the next few weeks.
In a joint statement, Dairy Connect chairman George Davey said the commercially viable cold chain pipeline would open the door for millions of litres of fresh milk exports to China each year.
PGS, in collaboration with Dairy Connect and Norco, implemented the quarantine clearance agreement with China to bring the delivery time well within the shelf life of fresh Australian pasteurised milk.
It was the result of 12 months of work between PGS and Chinese officials to develop quality assurance protocols that have now been tested and officially sanctioned by the relevant Chinese agencies.
PGS says its cold chain pipeline has been supported by changes to existing China import clearance procedures to accommodate the limited shelf life of fresh milk imports from Australia.
Mr Davey said before the changes, export efforts were hampered by lengthy testing and quarantine processes before shipment from Australia, and again upon arrival in China, with the export lead time for fresh milk typically ranging from 14 to 21 days.
In a statement, Norco chairman Greg McNamara said the pipeline has the capacity to deliver more than 20 million litres of fresh milk to consumers in China within the first 12 months of operation.
PGS managing director Peter Verry said the cold chain pipeline incorporated “stringent quality assurance controls that ensure the fresh milk meets or exceeds China’s food health and safety standards, that the product is maintained at the optimal temperature at all times during transit, and incorporates an innovative product security system that identifies and tracks the location of individual units.”
Originally published on farmonline.com.au
