Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
The Milk SA Regulation and Standards Project and Dairy Standard Agency (DSA) recently held a webinar to explain the draft document prepared by the Milk SA Regulation and Standards Technical Workgroup (TWG). The document contains the suggested changes to R1510 of 2019 Regulations, which govern the classification, packing and marketing of dairy products and imitation dairy products for sale in South Africa.
The Milk SA project management team has sought feedback from various dairy industry stakeholders as part of an industry transparency process. This has resulted in the draft proposals for changing R1510 of 2019.
All the comments that are supported by evidence will be included in the final submission to Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), even if there are multiple comments on the same technical issue.
Regulatory matters and product interpretation
Anneke van Niekerk, a consultant for the Regulations and Standards Project of Milk SA, hosted the webinar. She explained the details of the proposal and discussed the role of the Milk SA TWG and DSA in revising R1510. The TWG has suggested some new definitions, written in italics, to be considered along with those from the DALRRD:
- ‘Dairy term’ means a name, designation, symbol, pictorial or other device which refers to, or are suggestive, either directly or by implication, of milk or dairy product.
- ‘Milk’ means the normal secretion of the mammary glands of bovines, goats or sheep or other milking animals, obtained from one or more milkings without either addition to it or extraction from it, intended for consumption as liquid milk or for further processing. ‘Milk constituents’ means the principal constituents of milk, which includes butterfat, milk proteins, carbohydrate and minerals.
- ‘Imitation dairy product’ means product, other than a dairy free product, and in so far as it relates to general appearance, presentation and intended use corresponds to a primary dairy product and of which more than 50% and less than 98% of the fat content, protein content and/or carbohydrate content has respectively been obtained from a source other than a primary dairy product.
- ‘Modified dairy product’ means a product that, in so far as it relates to general appearance, presentation and intended use, corresponds to a primary dairy product, and of which not more than 50 per cent of the fat content and/or protein content and/or carbohydrate content has respectively been obtained from a source other than a primary dairy product, not accounting the addition of food additives.
- ‘Dairy alternative product’ means a product that in so far as it relates to general appearance, presentation and intended use, corresponds to a primary dairy product. However, it is produced without the use of dairy, dairy constituents or dairy ingredients, is not considered an alternative in nutritive value to dairy products and is considered to be ‘dairy-free’ and/or ‘non-dairy’ and is primarily regulated as a foodstuff.
- ‘Food additive’ means a foodstuff as defined by the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972).
- ‘Multipack’ means a packaging other than an outer container which consist of multiple individual containers of 150 ml/g or less of the same type of dairy product, modified dairy product or imitation dairy product in individual containers and is intended to be consumed separately and is sold as one unit only.
- ‘Pasteurisation’ means the heat treatment of a dairy product, a modified dairy product or an imitation dairy product as defined in the regulations published under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972).
- ‘Sterilisation’ means the heat treatment of a dairy product, a modified dairy product or an imitation dairy product as defined in the regulations published under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972).
- ‘Ultra-high temperature (UHT)’ means the heat treatment of a dairy product, a modified dairy product or an imitation dairy product as defined in the regulations published under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972).
Read more about the position of the organised dairy industry in terms A1 vs A2 milk
‘Whey cream’ means the creamy substance obtained with whey and milk, during whey separation. ‘Yoghurt culture’ means a culture consisting of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus or another similar culture used for the manufacture of the primary dairy product known as yoghurt. – Carin Venter, Plaas Media
To access the full list of proposals circulated for industry comments please contact the Dairy Standard Agency at 012 665 4250 or send an email to info@dairystandard.co.za.
