Opinion

Trust in dairy producers

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-01 16:39

It came to us as no surprise when China Central Television (CCTV) reported that almost 70 percent of consumers are unwilling to buy homemade dairy products. We believe that, if affordability was not an issue, the proportion would be much higher.

Everybody knows why - the domestic dairy industry has done nasty things and ruined its own reputation.

This is what it deserves. Its status as a national industry constitutes no justification for unquestioning moral support.

If an industry compromises an essential public interest and national security - and we believe that public health qualifies as a matter of national security - we are under no obligation to show it support.

The CCTV report was in part an official initiative to repair the industry's compromised image. Besides official statements that the home dairy market is now safe from harmful additives, the report cited figures from the latest surveys by competent authorities to show that domestic milk powders are basically the same, and actually better in terms of some nutritious ingredients, than imported ones.

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It even went so far as to cite previous cases of substandard imported dairy products and quoted experts warning against "blind trust" in imported milk powders.

Reliable tests are surely conducive to convincing consumers that domestic dairy products are safe. They are certainly better than general categorical announcements that such products are now harmless. But it will take time to win back consumer confidence.

It is unfair to blame the industry's woes on consumers' blind faith in overseas products. There used to be no superstition in the superiority of imported dairy products. It was the rampant fraudulence by domestic dairy producers that drove consumers away. After all, let us not forget the melamine and "leather milk".

The CCTV report revealed pervasive worries about the poor credibility of the domestic dairy industry and a "very obvious blow" inflicted on it by imported dairy products. But that is not a bad thing.

"Confront a person with the danger of death so that he will fight to live." That is what our ancestors taught. Given its dirty record, the domestic dairy industry needs such a near-death experience to learn the significance of self-discipline and how to behave itself.

A high-profile official campaign is going on to clean up the dairy market. All dairy producers are to renew their licenses - an initiative that is expected to result in a third of existing manufacturers vanishing from the scene.

Those who warned of a "fatal and overwhelming disaster" were not just crying wolf, the wolf really was among the cows.