Milk-and-Dairy-Products-in-Human-Nutrition-FAO

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Chapter 9
Human nutrition and dairy
development: Trends and issues
Anni McLeod
Independent consultant
Abstract
This chapter highlights key trends and emerging issues in dairy development and
human nutrition and discusses their implications for the future of the dairy sector,
particularly in developing countries. The steady and continuing growth of the dairy
sector is an important trend, although there are considerable regional differences
in the rate of consumption growth. Together with growth has come public and
private investment, with the private sector dominant in countries belonging to the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Argentina
and Brazil, and public-sector-led programmes being prime movers elsewhere.
Dairy products are an excellent source of nutrition, important in diversifying the
diet and improving the nutritional status of poor people, particularly pregnant
women and children above the age of 12 months. However, the poorest families
and most urban dwellers do not own dairy animals and find the price of dairy
and other livestock products too high. Indirect and direct support measures are
necessary to improve poor people’s access to livestock products while still allowing
producers to make a reasonable living. Lengthening value chains bring the need to
establish institutions and practices that promote the safety of dairy products. The
most vulnerable members of the population are at particular risk from unsafe food.
Minimizing these risks requires actions pre- and post-harvest. Overconsumption
of animal-source foods carries health risks; however, milk and dairy products
have not been implicated in causing obesity or increased cardio-vascular disease
(CVD) and their consumption may reduce the risk of certain metabolic problems.
The livestock sector worldwide is scaling up and intensifying, but the trend has
been slower in the dairy sector than for most other livestock. This suggests that
small-scale commercial production may be more sustainable for dairy farmers than
for owners of other livestock. The impact of scaling up is affected by the speed at
which it is done and the strength of local institutions in supporting smallholders.
Dairy products are far less traded internationally than meat; nonetheless, dairying is
still a global industry in which multinational companies sell processed products to
a wide range of markets to supply wealthy consumers and the baking and fast-food
industries. World milk prices and milk imports affect the functioning of domestic
markets in developing countries. The dairy sector has a two-way relationship with
the environment. On the one hand it is implicated in the production of greenhouse
gases and contributes to climate change. On the other hand, dairy production is