Super Ba Milk is essentially a choice that caters to the consumption needs of pasteurized milk, but is second-rate in terms of technology and quality. Its appearance is the product of the competition between the two major camps of China's dairy industry, "room temperature" and "low temperature".
pictures/Visual China
text | "Financial" reporter Ma Lin Intern Xia Xue
Edited by Yule
In the seemingly calm dairy industry, a secret war is taking place that is enough to change the definition of fresh milk and affect the competitive landscape of dairy companies.
Recently, many consumers have discovered that in the refrigerated areas of supermarkets and convenience stores, there are a variety of "fresh" milk with a shelf life of up to 15 to more than 20 days. This subverts people's perception of fresh milk.
"Fresh milk that needs refrigeration usually has shelf life of 3-5 days, up to 7 days. Why is the shelf life of fresh milk getting longer and longer now? Can milk be stored for 20 days still fresh milk?" In several supermarkets and convenience stores in Beijing, consumers expressed such confusion to the reporter of " Finance ".
Many consumers know that the shelf life of 6-9 months Tetra Pak bag milk is called room temperature milk . Its nutritional value and taste will be lost during the ultra-high temperature sterilization process. More consumers with conditions are willing to choose refrigerated low-temperature fresh milk with a shelf life of 3-7 days, packaged in cartons, and plastic bags.
Traditional low-temperature fresh milk has a more professional name: pasteurized milk. Compared with the ultra-high temperature and short-term sterilization of room temperature milk, pasteurized milk retains as much nutrients and flavor as possible through lower temperature and longer pasteurization.
dairy industry is a mature market with slow growth, but since 2014, China's low-temperature pasteurized milk has eaten at least 5% of the market share of room temperature milk. The market share of pasteurized milk and room temperature milk is obvious at a glance, and the low-temperature milk market has also become a "must-fight place" for dairy companies.
In the context of the rising demand for low-temperature milk, the above-mentioned "new species" with longer shelf life than pasteurized milk and shorter than room temperature milk, and its sterilization temperature is also between the two. Currently, there are many names for this type of milk in the industry, and the product ranges included in each name are not consistent. This article selects the more recognized concept of "ultra-pasteurized milk" (hereinafter referred to as "superba milk").
Super Ba milk has a shelf life of 10 to more than 20 days more than pasteurized milk. The taste and nutrition are somewhat less expensive than pasteurized milk, but this milk is also marked as refrigerated like pasteurized milk. Due to the asymmetry of information between dairy companies and the outside world, the relevant standards and packaging labels are unclear, consumers do not know the difference between pasteurized milk and superb milk, and they cannot even know whether a milk placed in the refrigerated area is low-temperature milk. The emergence of
Super Ba milk provides consumers with a choice, but it actually confuses to a certain extent and even lowers the definition standards of low-temperature fresh milk in the Chinese dairy industry. , the most prominent case among new consumer brands is Younuo, acquired by Tiantu Capital. This company actually gained a lot of low-temperature milk users by launching the longer shelf life of super-ba milk and a series of marketing offensives. However, many of these users think that UNO is the traditional low-temperature pasteurized milk.
Low-temperature milk that extends the shelf life is also changing the competition pattern of the "two major camps" of Chinese dairy companies in the low-temperature milk market. For a long time, the advantages of national dairy companies Yili and Mengniu are mainly reflected in the field of room temperature milk, while in the field of low-temperature milk, it cannot compete with local dairy companies such as Sanyuan and Guangming , which are close to the consumption area. Now, although Yili and Mengniu do not clearly claim to be involved in Super Ba Milk, they have launched products with a shelf life longer than traditional pasteurized milk but shorter than room temperature milk and require refrigeration. In order to compete with each other, local dairy companies have also begun to launch similar products, competing with Yili and Mengniu for this new "middle zone".
Pasteurized milk has higher requirements for the product operation capabilities of dairy companies, and many dairy companies find it difficult to meet such requirements. Using the superba milk process can extend the shelf life by 10 to 20 days, which allows a group of companies with limited product conditions to sit on the "table table" of the low-temperature milk business.
Superba milk still lacks clear and unified industry standards in terms of production process and product labeling, so there have been many chaos. For example, the shelf life of products marked pasteurized by some dairy companies is longer than that of some superba milk, and is even several times that of other pasteurized milk products.
In addition, existing standards and methods are difficult to test whether a milk is pasteurized, superba milk, or a room-temperature milk that pretends to be low-temperature milk. Consumers are "stupid and can't tell the difference" and their rights are difficult to protect.
Super Ba Milk breaks the inherent pattern of dairy industry
dairy products in supermarkets. Picture｜Visual China
Super Ba Milk is essentially a choice that caters to the consumption needs of pasteurized milk, but is second-rate in terms of technology and quality. Why did Chaoba Milk appear? It starts with the current situation of China's dairy industry and market demand.
Chinese dairy companies have theories of "room temperature" and "low temperature". The two top two dairy companies, Yili and Mengniu, are in Inner Mongolia. They are representatives of the room temperature gentry, and firmly account for more than 60% of the market share of China's room temperature milk market, and the trend of concentration is still deepening.
In the field of low-temperature milk, the market share is among the old local dairy companies. According to Euromonitor International data, the three major low-temperature pasteurized milk companies and their market share in 2018 were Guangming (11.50%), Sanyuan (9.20%) and New Hope Dairy (5.90%) respectively.
room temperature and low temperature players have been secretly competing for the right to interpret milk nutrition in the past decade: Yili and Mengniu will emphasize that there is no obvious difference in nutrition between room temperature and pasteurized milk, and the spokespersons of pasteurized milk in the industry have been trying to promote the introduction of standards that are beneficial to pasteurized milk.
But in fact, whether dairy companies choose to produce room temperature milk or low temperature milk, in addition to market demand, it also depends on a variety of objective factors. A dairy industry insider told the "Finance" reporter that dairy companies will determine the shelf life that an enterprise has confidence in based on the conditions of the quality of its own raw milk, production process, distance from the market, cold chain capacity, channel efficiency and management capabilities.
high-quality raw milk, or a milk source closer to the consumer market, can have a lower sterilization temperature and shorter shelf life; if the raw milk is not good, or the milk source is remote and the cold chain resources are insufficient, and the freshness cannot be guaranteed, a higher sterilization temperature must be used to extend the shelf life. In short, the threshold for making pasteurized milk is much higher than that of room temperature milk.
In China, due to objective conditions, the dairy industry has limited ability to provide pasteurized milk. From raw materials, production, shelves to entry into the consumer end, pasteurized milk requires low temperature transportation and storage of 2 degrees Celsius to 6 degrees Celsius, and the shelf life is generally within seven days.
The objective situation of China's dairy industry is "Northern milk transport, production and sales separation": the four major milk source belts are located in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Northeast China and Hebei respectively. The milk consumption market, especially the main consumer market of pasteurized milk, is a large city south of the milk source belt. Pastures around these cities are often scarce and difficult to meet demand, but the northern milk source is far from the southern consumer market. Due to the cold chain capacity, channel management capacity and efficiency, most of the raw milk in the north are used to produce room temperature milk rather than pasteurized milk.
In the production process, pasteurized milk has higher requirements for the quality of raw milk. Currently, China's national standard for raw milk requires that the total number of colonies is less than 2 million/ml, while the EU standard is less than 100,000/ml. Pasteurized milk requires the use of freshest, non-contaminated milk sources, with a total colony count below 300,000 per milliliter. Raw milk above this number cannot be processed into pasteurized milk.
Regardless of the willingness of dairy companies, the growth of the pasteurized milk market is obvious. According to Euromonitor International data, China's pasteurized milk sales increased from 22.1 billion yuan to 34.3 billion yuan from 2014 to 2019, with an annual compound growth rate of 9.2%, of which 11.36% increased in 2019. During the same period, the sales of room temperature milk increased from 80 billion yuan to 94.2 billion yuan, with an annual compound growth rate of only 3.3%. From 2014 to 2019, the proportion of pasteurized milk sales in China increased from 21.6% to 26.7%, and the proportion of room temperature milk sales decreased from 78.4% to 73.3%.
This means that if dairy companies do not pay attention to the low-temperature milk market, it means giving up the most potential growth point in the milk market.
Under this background, Chaoba Milk has become a new means for dairy companies to occupy the low-temperature milk market. milk sources and secondary quality sources can no longer be limited to the option of room temperature milk, but are made into super-ba milk and placed in the refrigerated area with paste milk to be sold as "low-temperature milk".
According to statistics from the reporter of "Finance", currently Guangming, Junlebao , Younuo, Weiquan , Japanese Meiji , Asahi Green Source, and South Korea Yonse Ranch have clearly launched Super Ba Milk. Unlike pasteurized milk " pasteurized milk " and home temperature milk "sterilized milk", these products are marked with the new product type "high temperature sterilized milk".
In response to the inquiry from the reporter of "Finance", Mengniu did not clearly state whether it was making super bami. Yili said that except for a super bami that cooperated with South Korea's Yonse Ranch, it did not launch super bami under the Yili brand. But in fact, Mengniu and Yili have products that are "suspected" in superba milk: their shelf life is several times that of other pasteurized milk products, equal to other brands of superba milk, or even longer.
The latest entry into the Chaoba milk market is Coca-Cola . On September 25, 2021, the joint venture between Coca-Cola and Mengniu, "Ke Niu Dairy Products", launched the 28-day shelf life of the Chaoba milk product Fairlife. Compared with traditional low-temperature pasteurized milk with a 3-7-day shelf life, Fenfel should be the longest-satisfactory low-temperature milk product on the market.
The earliest companies to launch Chaoba milk products include Junlebao, Mengniu Holdings, and the French brand Younuo, which was taken over by Tiantu Capital.
Junlebao is a Hebei dairy company. It is not as good as Sanyuan's geographical advantage of "being close to the water and getting the month first" in Beijing and the scale advantage of Yili Mengniu, a room temperature milk giant, has never had a hit product in the Beijing market. In order to cut a piece of cake from the low-temperature milk market, in 2019, Junlebao launched the super milk product "Yuexianhuo". With this super milk, Junlebao was able to compete with his competitors in the Beijing market.
new consumer brand Younuo started his business entirely with Chaoba Milk. In 2019, the French brand Unuo, a consumer venture capital fund, held by Tiantu Investment, launched four super milk products. Yunuo’s factory is in Kunshan, Jiangsu. With the help of longer shelf life of pasteurized milk, UNO's low-temperature milk can enter markets such as Beijing and other places far away from production.
A milk production line in Xinjiang
In addition, Hangzhou Weiquan, Japanese brands Asahi Green Source, Meiji, and Korean brand Yonse Ranch have also launched superba milk products in China, among which the superba milk products launched by Yonse Ranch are partly manufactured by Yili OEM.
has launched domestic and foreign brands of super bami, and most of them do not have the advantage of pasteurized milk in the Chinese market, and Guangming is an exception. The reason why Guangming, which occupies the East China market, launched Super Ba Milk is to cope with the sudden impact of competitors in the low-temperature milk market.
In 2020, Guangming launched the Super Ba Milk product line "Fresh Ranch". Pu Shaohua, chairman of Bright Dairy , once said in an interview with " First Financial " and " China Business News " that as a dairy company with pasteurized milk as its strength, Bright Dairy has to launch Super Ba Milk products to fight the impact and penetration of other dairy companies on Guangming's existing market. Fresh Ranch can help Bright Dairy block competitors.
Another pasteurized milk giant, Sanyuan, has not yet taken action, but Sanyuan responded to the "Finance" reporter that there are plans to launch super-ba milk products in the future. "There are more and more superba milk products appearing in the market, and sales volume is increasing year by year. Superba milk is longer than pasteurized milk, providing convenience for some consumers." After the dairy giant
Superba milk has added the "war situation" of low-temperature milk, many confusing phenomena have been highlighted: some milks that claim to be pasteurized milk actually have a longer shelf life than superba milk, and are even several times that of other pasteurized milk products.
For example, most pasteurized milk has a shelf life of 3 days to 7 days, but Mengniu Fresh Milk, pasteurized milk, has a shelf life of up to 21 days, even longer than Junlebao's 19-day super-paper milk.
Mengniu Modern Ranch, Mengniu Daily Fresh Language, Yili Fresh Milk, Yili Jindian Fresh Milk is 15 days, which is as long as the shelf life of superba milk such as Guangming, Younuo, Meiji, etc., while the shelf life of pasteurized milk of Sanyuan, Guangming, Huishan , New Hope , Yantang, Weigang and other local dairy companies are all between 3 days and 9 days.
Dongxing Securities In a series of low-temperature milk industry reports, Mengniu Daily Fresh Language, Mengniu Modern Ranch and Yili Fresh Milk are regarded as super milk products. However, Yili responded to the "Finance" reporter that Yili has not yet launched other super milk products except for the super milk that has previously cooperated with Yanshi.
The reporter asked Mengniu which products were superba milk products. Mengniu replied that Mengniu’s fresh milk (pasteurized milk) products are all produced strictly in accordance with the national standard of pasteurized milk, and did not directly answer the question of "whether the product belongs superba milk".
A person close to the above-mentioned national dairy companies told the "Finance" reporter that the process used by each dairy company is commercial secrets, and ordinary dairy companies will not disclose the method of extending the shelf life. Therefore, it is difficult for the outside world to know clearly how Yili and Mengniu’s pasteurized milk products can extend the shelf life.
A dairy company who knows the source of milk told the "Finance" reporter that the national standards for existing pasteurized milk are very broad and there are loopholes that can be exploited.
currently has no national standards for super-ba milk, and room temperature milk and pasteurized milk have national standards. However, the national standard does not clearly stipulate the sterilization temperature and time of pasteurized milk, nor does it have any grading, and the standards are very loose. In practice, a common practice among many dairy companies is to pasteurize twice, which may also lengthen the sterilization time. Although fresh milk produced in this way can also be called pasteurized milk, its freshness is not as good as that of a product with a shelf life of 3-7 days.
In addition, existing market methods are difficult to test whether a milk is pasteurized, superba milk, or a room-temperature milk that pretends to be low-temperature milk.
For example, there is a pure milk, and the product is classified as "sterilized milk" used for room temperature milk, but it requires low temperature refrigeration and a shelf life of 28 days.
Previously, some dairy industry experts had promoted the differentiation of milk types through lactulose and furfuryanine determination, and thus eliminated the emergence of fake pasteurized milk or unqualified pasteurized milk.
Lactulose and furfuryosine are by-products in the heating process of milk and are also indicators that can scientifically distinguish pasteurized milk, superb milk and room temperature milk. The higher the heating temperature, the higher the content of lactulose and furfuryanine in the milk.
Therefore, pasteurized milk only contains traces of the above ingredients, and the content in room temperature milk is quite high, while super-bak milk is between the two.
However, since Chinese dairy companies generally use two pasteurization processes when processing pasteurized milk, the measurement results are definitely not ideal, so companies are highly resistant and the path of lactulose and furfuryosine measurement is difficult to follow. The problem of low-temperature milk standard also extends to imported products. In recent years, American and Australian dairy companies have always hoped to use superba milk to enter the Chinese market.On January 16, 2020, the Chinese Ministry of Finance issued the "Economic and Trade Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States", relaxing entry restrictions on dairy products exported to China by the United States, allowing imports of "extended shelf-life milk" produced from the United States, and selling them as pasteurized milk in China.
Extended Shelf Life Milk (Extended Shelf Life Milk) is referred to as ESL milk, which includes superba milk, which extends the shelf life by heating and sterilization at high temperature. In fact, the heat treatment temperature of the U.S. superba milk is even higher than the sterilization temperature limit of China's room temperature milk. The sterilization temperature stipulated by the U.S. is not less than 137.8 degrees Celsius before and after packaging, and the heat treatment is at least two seconds, while the sterilization temperature of the U.S. is above 132 degrees Celsius, and the heat treatment is four seconds.
According to Shanghai Customs information, in July 2021, Shanghai Yangshan Customs approved a batch of customs declaration applications for extended shelf life milk, which is called "new pasteurized milk" (ESL milk), but this product is actually a room-temperature milk that does not require refrigeration.
true and false pasteurized milk
Whether a product is pasteurized milk can be roughly judged by the sterilization temperature and duration. Since China's dairy industry standards do not require dairy companies to indicate the sterilization temperature and duration on product packaging, consumers have no way to judge whether a product is low-temperature milk or room-temperature milk, super-ba milk or pasteurized milk.
Moreover, Chaoba Milk does not have a unified national standard. Dairy companies implement enterprise standards or group standards, and the specified sterilization temperature and duration are different. For example, Junlebao did not indicate how high the sterilization temperature was in its super milk enterprise standard of "sterilization milk", but Anhui New Hope Baidi Dairy, which also applied for the "sterilization milk" product type, stipulated a sterilization standard of 100 degrees Celsius-132 degrees Celsius and 1 second-20 seconds in the enterprise standard.
"Finance" reporter checked the super milk enterprise standards introduced by various Chinese dairy companies and found that the maximum sterilization temperature of super milk set by some companies is actually higher than the sterilization temperature of normal temperature milk, and there is no even a maximum sterilization temperature. Super milk produced by such standards is likely to be normal temperature milk.
The standards for most dairy companies are very broad. For example, Nanjing Weigang stipulates in its "high temperature sterilization milk" enterprise standards that it needs to be heated to at least 100 degrees Celsius and maintained for a very short period of time, and there is no upper limit for sterilization. Yili stipulates that the sterilization temperature of high-temperature sterilization milk is 85 degrees Celsius-132 degrees Celsius, and it is maintained for 1 second-15 seconds.
product classification is also a vague area. At present, dairy companies mostly use the product type description of "high temperature sterilization milk" on Chaoba milk packaging, based on the "Announcement on the Revision and Announcement of the Classification Catalog of Food Production Licenses" issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation in February 2020. This announcement added an entry for "High-temperature sterilization milk".
Before the national standard of "High-temperature sterilization milk" was officially released, dairy companies can produce high-temperature sterilization milk products according to the registered enterprise standards. For example, companies such as Guangming, Weiquan, Huishan and other companies used the description of "high temperature sterilization milk".
, Junlebao and Anhui New Hope Baidi Dairy use descriptions of "sterilization milk"; in December 2019, the Tianjin Dairy Science and Technology Innovation Association issued nine group standards, including "High-temperature pasteurization milk", using the term "high-temperature pasteurization milk".
If compared with the Japanese low-temperature milk product standards, we can see that Japan's standards are obviously stricter. It stipulates that dairy companies must indicate the sterilization temperature and duration on the product . Moreover, the standard pasteurized milk sterilization temperature in Japan is lower than in China. Even if it is above 75 degrees Celsius, it is considered a high-temperature sterilization super-balanced milk; the standard for ultra-high-temperature sterilization is above 120 degrees Celsius.
"Finance" reporter learned that the national food safety standards for Chaoba milk products are currently being formulated, and the standards for pasteurized milk are also being revised. It is not known whether these standards issued and updated in the future can be refined to solve the above series of problems and doubts.
Super Ba milk will replace pasteurized milk?
An important question that consumers are concerned about is that even if the superba milk is suspected of "impersonating" pasteurized milk, how different is its quality from traditional pasteurized milk?
Milk's inherent quality is usually measured in terms of flavor and nutrients. Compared with pasteurized milk, the flavor and nutrition will decrease with the increase of sterilization temperature, and the convenience provided by the product will increase accordingly.
flavor includes the taste, texture and aroma of milk. The destruction of the protein substance of β-lactoglobulin in milk will cause the milk to produce volatile sulfur compounds, which will have a cooking taste. The higher the sterilization temperature, the stronger the taste after cooking, and the more loss of the texture and aroma of the fresh milk. The same is true for
nutrients. During the bactericidal process, the higher the sterilization temperature, the more serious the structure damage and vitamin loss of active protein . If the sterilization temperature of a superba milk is between room temperature and pasteurized milk, its taste, nutrient content and shelf life will also fall between the two accordingly.
usually believes that drinking milk mainly supplements protein and calcium. Room temperature milk and the latest superba milk can also provide sufficient protein and calcium. Therefore, in the dairy industry, whether the loss of active nutrients and vitamins caused by bactericidal and heating of raw milk will have a significant impact on the human body has long been a controversial topic.
However, the current consensus among dairy experts is that if conditions permit, pasteurized milk is still the best choice for consumers. The above-mentioned dairy company said that to put it more exaggeratedly, room temperature milk is like instant noodles, with heavy processing traces. People still like to eat hand-rolled noodles when they have the conditions.
low-temperature superba milk has been one step forward from room temperature milk to better quality, but superba milk has no technological innovation or improvement in nature.
He said that it is not easy to make real food innovation. Many disruptive products of Chinese dairy companies have not improved their nutritional value. The most prominent example is room temperature yogurt. The foreign market only sells low-temperature yogurt, but there is no room-temperature yogurt, because only low-temperature yogurt has live bacteria. Drinking yogurt means drinking live bacteria, but Chinese dairy companies have successfully promoted room-temperature yogurt to the market.
At present, some countries and dairy companies with developed dairy industries are studying sterilization processes that are better than pasteurized milk, as well as canning and packaging methods to extend the shelf life of low-temperature milk. For example, the Queensland government in Australia is using fiscal funds to support a dairy research to use stress rather than heating to recover lost nutrients from pasteurization while extending shelf life.
Domestic companies have also taken corresponding actions. Sanyuan launched a milk that extends the shelf life, using ceramic membrane microfiltration and sterilization technology, and then pasteurization treatment at a lower temperature of 72 degrees Celsius to extend the shelf life to nine days.
However, R&D requires cost, and simply increasing the sterilization temperature is obviously a more convenient way. If the consumption demand of Chaoba milk rises, it is likely to reduce the motivation of dairy companies to make pasteurized milk, let alone better technology to extend the shelf life of fresh milk while keeping the active nutrients and vitamins in fresh milk from being destroyed.
low-temperature milk market is a scattered market overall. Only Guangming, a company with a market share of more than 10%, is fiercely competitive. After the room temperature milk giant joined the battle, the concentration of market is still declining. Ambient temperature milk giants like Mengniu acquired Modern Animal Husbandry located in Maanshan in 2017, and attacked the East China market where the low-temperature milk giant Guangming is located through the "Daily Fresh Word" whose shelf life is comparable to that of Super Ba Milk. Later, through the holding of Junlebao, it entered the three-yuan advantageous market - Beijing. In such a competitive situation, using products with higher sterilization temperature and longer shelf life to expand the market is a more favorable stopgap measure for dairy companies.
At present, dairy companies are using Chaoba milk products as a weapon to occupy the market share of low-temperature milk, and generally adopt low-pricing strategies to fight price wars with low-temperature milk. According to Dongxing Securities' estimates, the Sanyuan Extreme Fresh Milk (Pasteurized Milk) is 33,222 yuan/ton, while the ton price of Yili Fresh Milk, Mengniu Modern Ranch and Guangming Fresh Ranch is between 10,000 and 14,000 yuan. There are exceptions to
. The price of Junlebao's super ba milk product Yuexianhuo is approaching the price of paste milk. The upcoming product Xianfeile, a joint venture between Coca-Cola and Mengniu, is also positioned at the high-end position.
The above-mentioned dairy company believes that the secret war in the low-temperature milk market will ultimately be determined by consumers' votes. However, excellent companies should be committed to valuable research and development, and use lower sterilization strength to retain more nutrients and flavor in milk. This is not easy.
