Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Amul Dairy in September 2018 had claimed that he was ridiculed for calling camel’s milk nutritious several years ago, and that now camel’s milk was not only being used in making chocolates but was also fetching double the price for farmers when compared to cow’s milk.
Three months after the Modi’s visit recounted the benefits of "Camel Milk" at a public event in Anand, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF) announced the launch of “Amul Camel Milk” in select markets of Gujarat - Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Kutch.
The milk will be available in a 500 ml PET bottle priced at Rs. 50. It needs to be refrigerated with a shelf life of 3 days. Camel milk is easy to digest and rated healthy due to its numerous benefits, most prominent of which is that the milk is high in an insulin-like protein, making it beneficial for a diabetic person.
Dr. R S Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul Federation says “We are the first major dairy brand to introduce Camel Milk for the benefit of camel farmers and consumers alike. It is a proud moment for us to be able to offer superior quality milk that will be useful tool in diabetes management. As easy-to-digest milk with several health benefits we believe camel milk will open up a new segment in the market.”
Amul had earlier introduced a camel milk chocolate which continues to receive good response, it said. The company said camel milk is easy to digest and healthy with numerous benefits, such as high in an insulin-like protein, making it beneficial for diabetic persons.
Amul has been an outstanding example of the power of farmer’s cooperative movement born way back in 1946, before India gained Independence. Amul has now become a household name and all Indians have tasted Amul products at different phases of their life.
It is noteworthy that the Government of Gujarat has provided subsidy for setting up new plants in Kutch district of Gujarat for the processing of Camel milk. Camel milk is being used for thousands of years across various cultures and benefits of the camel milk even receive mention in Ayurvedic texts. Research articles have suggested that the Camel milk is also beneficial to those having dairy allergies as it contains no allergens.
It is important to mention that the Amul group has achieved sales unduplicated turnover of Rs. 41,000 crore during 2017-18. 80-85 percent of consumer rupee is passed back to milk producer members thus encouraging them to produce more milk.
