Normally, The Nanjinger writes about another kind of pint. This month, though, we turn our attention to the old-fashioned, but equally-important, milk.
As with most other products, China has a bewildering array of options from which to choose something as seemingly simple as a pint of milk. On a recent visit to a medium-sized supermarket, this publication counted no less than 21 different brands of the stuff.
Amid all this, our very own Nanjing dairy, Weigang (卫岗), is worthy of a quick mention. In the absence of any of the following, The Nanjinger will plump for Weigang every day of the week over Shanghai-based Guangming; Nanjing cows are simply happier. It’s worth forking out a little extra for their not-so cheap options.
But not when we can get our hands on Mengniu (蒙牛). More happy cows at work, these ones on the plains of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. While the company as a whole is spread out all over the place (their registered office is in the Cayman Islands and their headquarters in Hong Kong), in Inner Mongolia, Mengniu applies the Alliance for Water Stewardship standard in its operations, making its products an eco choice at least from the standpoint of water.
Not that it should matter, but Mengniu has also bolstered its credibility in international circles recently, by appointing to serve on its board as Non-executive Director one Simon Dominic Stevens, former Principal at Unilever UK.
Of all their many products (they make a lot of long-life milk in small cartons for kids), The Nanjinger goes for Mengniu’s Modern Ranch (现代牧场) variety of fresh milk straight from the fridge. Available in convenience stories such as Little Suning (苏宁小店), or anything larger.
Moving up the superiority chain in the all-important milk stakes, we find Yiming (一鸣), dating back to 1992 and boasting an ecological ranch in the sparsely populated Taishun County of southern Zhejiang Province.
There, they built a comprehensive, animal-husbandry-management system, claiming such efforts promote an improvement in the quality of raw milk and increase farmers’ enthusiasm to develop production. The efforts led to the opening of (Yiming alleges) China’s first milk bar in 2002. Today there are in excess of 1,500.
They even imported cows to graze on the ranch too; pure Holstein and Jersey heffers from Australia, in fact.
This therefore gives consumers a choice as to their milk’s ethnicity. Choose 1kg (odd unit to choose for a liquid) of milk from a Chinese cow for ¥15, or from an Australian cow for ¥23. The Nanjinger figures there’s not much to pick and choose between the two. Readers may also be interested in other varieties, such as chocolate milk, strawberry milk, coconut milk or jujube milk.
Note that Yiming is operated as individual “oven ready” franchises (apply to set up your own via their website, www.inm.cn) and as such, each store carries their own selection of products from the Yiming range.
Find Yiming shops all over Nanjing; even in metro stations! Look for the distinctive yellow or download the APP (inm-鲜活美一天) to find the nearest one to you.
Taking the milk crown, though, for The Nanjinger at least, is Junlebao Dairy, from up in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province. Their innovative offering is named 0.09, by way of reference to the number of seconds it takes to apply their ultra-instantaneous sterilisation, as well as their low-temperature, aseptic-filling technologies.
Such a mouthful is said to retain more of the natural active substances in milk, while also giving it a shelf life of 19 days.
That same technology was also in part responsible for Junlebao scooping “Best Manufacturing/Processing Innovation” at the World Dairy Innovation Awards 2019 in Lisbon, one of the most-respected awards schemes that influences the international food and beverage industry.
The fact that Junlebao puts no less than 5 percent of its sales revenue in to product research and development probably helped too.
It is also likely no coincidence that just prior to 0.09 coming out, Mengniu sold their 51 percent stake in Junlebao, in a move possibly engineered by the Hebei government to strengthen the local dairy industry. One of the buyers was a government-controlled investment firm.
Launched in November, 2019, during a press conference at the Water Cube in Beijing, 0.09 is available in Nanjing today in larger branches of Suguo, as well as other stores such as Lawson and Baijia Supermarket, although not all outlets stock the same products.
