Dry Run

Nutritional standards for the sale of camel milk, issued for the first time by the government, are a huge threat to the nascent dairy industry.

- Karnika Bahuguna

THE FOOD Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country’s apex food regulator, has passed an order that can nip a promising dairy industry in the bud. On November 29 last year, FSSAI issued and enforced, for the first time, interim standards for the sale of camel milk. Scientists say the standards are too stringent to be implemented.

As per the standards, raw, pasteurised, boiled, flavoured and sterilised camel milk should have minimum 3 per cent fat and 6.5 per cent solids-not-fat (SNF). “The minimum 3 per cent standard is not practical,” says Raghvendar Singh, Principal Scientist (Animal Biochemistry) at the National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC). The Bikaner based institution comes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

Since the sale of camel milk has always been part of the informal sector, there are no official figures available, but the business is thriving in states like Rajasthan and Gujarat. “Camel milk is not consumed by the masses, but is in huge demand for its medicinal properties, particularly among people who suffer from diabetes and liver diseases,” says Hitesh Rathi, founder and director, Aadvik Foods and Products Pvt Ltd, the first company trading in camel milk and milk products on a pan-India scale. The Rajasthan-based company procures 3,5004,000 litres of milk a month from pastoralists in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Ramesh Bhatti, programme director and team leader of the Centre for Pastoralism Unit of Sahjeevan, a public charitable trust based in Gujarat, says a pastoralist with 25 camels can earn up to ₹3 lakh a year by selling milk. Bhatti works with the Rabari and Jat pastoral communities engaged in camel breeding in the Kachchh region. Pastoralists in the region sell more than 1,000 litres of camel milk every week, he estimates. Bhatti says the demand for camel milk is on the rise but the regulation can dent the budding market.