Aavin has started selling standardised milk with a shelf life of 120 days across major cities in the State.
The sterilising and packing equipment at Sholinganallur dairy in Chennai, packs 10,000 litres of milk a day. The milk with 4.5% fat and 8.5% solids-non-fat, comes in half litre packs that costs ₹30 each.
Sources in Aavin said the equipment had not been put to use due to various reasons since its purchase a few years ago. It was recently serviced and brought back to use for the manufacture of ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk, which is pasteurised. This milk is heated in a sealed container continuously for 15 minutes, which frees it from microorganisms and, hence, can be stored at room temperature without refrigeration in an unopened original pack. This variety of milk can be consumed directly after opening the pack, even without boiling.
This milk, which used to be manufactured earlier in tetra packs, is now being made available in packs that are similar to the regular milk pouch. “It is an aseptic pack and has four layers. We plan to introduce other variants of milk, including the popular one with 3% fat,” the source said.
Though priced slightly above regular milk packs, it does not require refrigeration or maintenance of cold chain and, hence, saves power. Since the pack is thicker, leaks are easily avoided. Aavin, the popular brand of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation has now planned to increase the manufacture and sale of UHT milk to one lakh packets a day.
“The ultimate idea is to replace a large section of regular milk packs to this variant. We are also thinking of bringing out 250 ml packs and even certain varieties of flavoured milk,” said another official.
