To ban adulterated or “pirated” products, deputy proposed creating the Federal Milk Law

Morena's deputy, Maximiano Barboza Llamas, presented the initiative to regulate the production, industrialization and marketing of milk for human consumption and to prohibit adding vegetable fat, preservatives or any other substance that is not typical of this product.

The legislator proposes the issuance of the Federal Milk Law, which states that milk quality, packaging, labeling and inspection among producers, industrializers and consumers are considered in the public interest. In this way, it would be mandatory to place a label indicating to the public whether it is genuine milk or a dairy product.

He considered it important that the products modified in its formula are not sold under the label of “milk” and thus the consumer is not misled by misleading products.

This law seeks to make the use of industrial milk transparent, which is the one used in yoghurts, sugary milks and, above all, milk for human consumption. It also intends that the payment to producers should be 50% of what is offered in commercial establishments, since farmers currently receive for each liter less than what a liter of bottled water costs, according to the deputy.

In the tribune of San Lázaro, he pointed out that in the face of the high demand in our country for milk for human consumption, it has led to the fact that most dairy plants import milk powder from abroad, which according to the deputy himself is of poor quality and is mostly powdered whey. He added that in Mexican plants vegetable fat, preservatives and other substances are added.

Barboza Llamas argued that it is necessary to ban these practices because the main consumers of milk in our country are children, who are affected, “because in most cases we are drinking milk that is not milk, adulterated milk”.

He recalled that article four of the Constitution itself states that “everyone has the right to adequate and quality nutritious food. The State will guarantee this”, which is why this bill envisages the creation of regional and national milk production committees, in which producer organizations, companies and authorities such as the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Profeco will participate, to supervise.

Although there is already a regulation in our country, Barboza Llamas considered that it is insufficient and with this initiative the entire production chain would participate, so that it would monitor and determine that the milk delivered to pasteurizing plants and the milk that comes out is passed through a laboratory where the producers' technicians define the quality of the milk that comes in and the product that goes out for sale.

“We cannot allow consumer fraud to continue. And, on this occasion, the producers themselves will be vigilant that the quality of milk is met,” said the legislator and asked other parties to support this proposal.

To avoid importing milk powder from other countries, he said that livestock farming will be promoted in areas of southeastern Mexico, such as Tabasco, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, because the abundance of water leads to cheaper fodder to feed livestock.

Finally, he assured that in Mexico we have the capacity to be self-sufficient in milk and even be able to export surpluses, but everything is a process. This initiative was joined by other legislators. The initiative took turns to the United Livestock Commissions for its study and opinion.

The legislator Marco Antonio Natale Gutiérrez supported the initiative and said “enough that they give us gruel with the finger, that they give us flour milk, soy milk, when we have very good cow's milk in our country.”

KEEP READING: