Fortified and Powdered Milk Supply in Ethiopia Concerns and Prospects

Abstract

There have been importations of powder milk to fill milk supply-demand gap in Ethiopia. Milk powder (fortified or not) and liquid milk available in supermarkets and shops include Anchor milk, Nido milk, Coast milk, UHT processed milk, Abay full cream milk and ‘Me and My’ full cream milk and pasteurized milk. However, prospects and gaps for research, development and policy on fortified milk and other milk powder remain uninvestigated and little information is available for designing strategies for sustainable supply of milk and milk products in Ethiopian/African context. This hindered consumers’ informed choices and further intervention in the dairy food industry, which calls for knowledge and experiences from elsewhere. Thus, this paper summarizes the available information on various aspects of dairy products, including pasteurized milk, fortified milk and other powdered milk products through an extensive review of several published articles and gray literature. The  imported milk powder is costly and is out of reach of middle and low income people, who are most affected by malnutrition. In addition, there is limited foreign currency and also safety concerns. Therefore, increasing domestic milk supply is crucial to reduce dairy imports. This in turn requires building the capacity of smallholder/medium dairy producers towards improved or good quality milk production and marketing. Moreover, little is known about milk fortification in Ethiopia, which raises issues of fortification policy/strategies, and potential impact of fortification. Research need to be initiated on milk powder, including on its microbial, compositional and adulteration and other aspects of quality and safety. Action is also required for designing and implementing dairy foods import policy and regulation.