NEW DELHI/VADODARA: Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today launched the National Dairy Development Board's quality mark logo, which dairy cooperatives can use after complying with quality norms.
The 'Quality Mark' logo will be valid for three years and surveillance audit for checking compliance with quality norms will be held once every year by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), an apex dairy sector body.
"NDDB's Quality Mark will provide dairy cooperatives and producer institutions the much-needed brand identity and a competitive edge," Singh said in a statement.
This will bring process improvement in the entire value chain from producer to consumers to ensure availability of quality milk and milk products, he said.
An 11-member management committee will oversee the activities of Quality Mark. The panel comprises members from agriculture ministry and managing directors of four dairy federations as also representative of food safety regulator FSSAI and two dairy experts.
Singh also presented quality mark logo certificates to 14 dairy manufacturing units for adopting food safety and quality management systems and adhering to Quality Mark parameters.
Minister of State for Agriculture Sudarshan Bhagat, Animal Husbandry Secretary Devendra Chaudhry and NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath were present at the launch.
NDDB said the initiative does not propose any new/additional system for food safety and quality management but lays down the process required for ensuring quality and safety.
Since the rollout of the initiative in January 2016, the NDDB has received 55 applications from cooperatives across the country. Of these, 14 units have successfully cleared the two stage assessment process.
The remaining dairies were informed about the areas of improvement. They have been provided 6-9 months for implementing the corrective measures.
The agriculture minister said this initiative of NDDB will facilitate and strengthen the efforts of FSSAI. It will also create requisite awareness among various dairy units across the country for adopting quality measures detailed in the guideline document.
Talking to PTI later, NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath said the quality mark logo would provide much-needed brand identity and a competitive edge to the dairy cooperatives.
"It will also contribute to building consumer confidence in dairy cooperative brands. It is aimed at bringing about the process of the improvement in the entire value chain- from producer to the consumer- to ensure availability of quality milk and products," he said.
"The award of quality mark shall be valid for three years, subject to maintenance of quality, food safety standards and compliance with terms and conditions of the agreement. Though the validity is for three years, the surveillance audit for checking compliance with the norms of quality mark shall be conducted every year," Rath said.