Dairy giant Amul planning to launch camel milk

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) – the owners of Amul brand – is planning to market camel milk to Indian consumers.

“The number of camel breeders in Kutch district is fast dwindling and need to be supported financially. The Kutch unit now wants GCMMF to help them launch camel milk commercially with brand name Amul,” R S Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF told Deccan Herald.

Some estimates put total camel population in Kutch to be in the range of 10,000-12,000, with female camel an average providing up to four litres of milk every day.

The Kutch District Milk Producers’ Union, that runs Sarhad dairy in this largest district of India, has received a sanction of about Rs 80 lakh for support to camel breeders. Sodhi said Amul would need to invest in setting up a milk collection for camel milk and cold chain for its storage across various places in Kutch. “To begin with, it will be on a small scale and if we are able to do 10,000-15,000 litres of camel milk a day, we would be happy,” he said.

Amul feels that it will take at least 3-4 months before they can begin collecting and marketing camel milk in Ahmedabad. “All the stakeholders have approached the Central government with a request to notify camel milk under category of milk. We hope that The Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will categorise camel milk as milk fit for human consumption,” Sodhi said.

The other reason for such a small beginning could be difficulty in sourcing of camel milk in India. “You can get goat milk in bulk but to collect camel milk in huge quantity will be a challenge,” T Nanda Kumar, chairman, National Dairy Development Board, said. India primarily has camel population in the desert regions of Kutch in Gujarat and Barmer in Rajasthan. This could be a limiting factor for Amul to go big.

Talking about the health-related rationale of marketing camel milk, that generally has salty taste to it, Sodhi said that it would find a ready market with fitness and health conscious. “There are people who opt for soya milk too. Similarly, camel milk will appeal to niche audience as it helps improve immunity and has great benefits for diabetics, heart patients, TB patients and children with autism,” Sodhi said.

The project is thus being taken up with twin objectives – one to provide an alternative income to cattle breeders and another to provide milk which is high in nutritional properties, low in fat and easy to digest.