Kazakhstan adopts roadmap on dairy industry standards
NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM - Kazakhstan is strengthening its commitment to improving the safety of raw milk and dairy products with the signing of a roadmap in the country’s capital Nur-Sultan that will bring the national dairy industry to the level of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) standards, ebrd.com reports.
The roadmap aims to provide transparent and comprehensive monitoring ofanimal health. It will include measures such as testing raw milk, both at thereceiving laboratories in factories and some others. This testing willdetermine the current degree of compliance and evaluate the readiness ofnational laboratories to conduct the necessary tests. The roadmap will alsopromote inclusiveness by sharing knowledge and best practices.
The document is the initiative of the Dairy Union of Kazakhstan,supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) andthe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The roadmapwas signed by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, and by theCommittee for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Ministry of Trade andIntegration). It was supported by the Chamber of Entrepreneurs, the ConsumerProtection Union, and the dairy companies of Kazakhstan.
It is part of a larger initiative to develop an inclusive dairy industryin Kazakhstan, supported by the EBRD and FAO.
The development of the livestock sector is supported by the governmentof Kazakhstan with a national programme aimed at fostering the country’s dairyindustry growth and overcoming remaining bottlenecks.
Most of the country’s raw milk – around 3.9 million tonnes of marketablemilk per year – comes from small family farms. Milk yields are low compared tothose of neighbouring countries, and availability is seasonal. Milk safetyparameters often fall short of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) standardrequirements.