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

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Milk and dairy products in human nutrition
investment from national companies. In Pakistan, the public sector has provided
the bulk of investment but both local and multinational private firms have brought
technology into the dairy sector and built up market chains. The current Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Smallholder Dairy Development Plan
as developed by FAO is a public–private strategy with a budget of US$250 million,
and northern China has seen large public–private dairy-industry development
projects. In some African countries total investment in smallholder dairy-industry
development programmes over the past few years has been quite sizeable – around
US$120 million in West Africa and US$110 million in Kenya – yet many individual
projects have been small, with NGOs acting as prime movers.
Growth in the dairy sector brings with it the need to establish institutions and
practices that promote food safety. Chapter 6 emphasises the importance of both the
public and the private sector in promoting food safety, including the establishment
of food-safety standards and provision of guidelines for practices to minimize risks
from zoonotic diseases, pathogens and contaminants, as well as measures to support
compliance with standards and guidelines. Investment is needed throughout
the market chain – in hygiene and cooling facilities at farms, quality-management
systems at processing plants, clear labelling of dairy products sold and education for
those involved in producing, preparing and handling food.
9.2.2 Dairy products: an excellent source of nutrition
but expensive for the poor
Latest estimates indicate that approximately 870 million people are chronically
undernourished, meaning that their energy intake is below the minimum level agreed
internationally to be adequate (FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2012). Even those who consume
sufficient energy may not be nutritionally secure; it is estimated that almost two
billion people are deficient in one or more micronutrients, mainly because of eating
poor-quality diets (Chapter 1). Poor health and unhygienic food preparation practices
reduce the nutritional value obtained from food and contribute to undernutrition.
Many of the world’s malnourished people are children from poor families, of whom
2.5 million die each year from malnutrition-related problems (FAO, IFAD and WFP,
2012); many of those who survive will grow up physically stunted or fail to develop
their full cognitive powers. Large numbers of malnourished women go on to give
birth to underweight babies. Furthermore, maternal undernutrition is an important
determinant of child undernutrition, which contributes to an intergenerational cycle
of growth retardation (UNSCN, 2010). As people’s productivity is low when they
are poorly nourished, compromising their income earning potential and their ability
to lift themselves out of poverty, malnutrition perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
Dairy products 56 can be important in diversifying the diet. They are energydense
and provide high-quality protein and micronutrients in an easily absorbed
form that can benefit both nutritionally vulnerable people and healthy people
when consumed in appropriate amounts. Milk and dairy products can be important
56 In this chapter milk and dairy products refer to cow milk and products from cow milk unless otherwise
specified.