Embarks on full cold supply-chain analysis to drive sustainable improvement in milk quality

Pelwatte Dairy, one of the leading local dairy brands in Sri Lanka that produces a range of dairy products and saves valuable foreign exchange for the country, has made significant investments to upgrade its milk preservation technologies to cater to the rising demand and to ensure its milk is of highest quality.

Pelwatte Yoghurt for instance, was the Pelwatte product line with the third highest sale in FY 2020/’21, also bringing a Year on Year growth of 49%. Pelwatte Yoghurt offers 80kcal of energy for each of its 80g cup but has minimum fat (at 3%-2.4g). Pelwatte dairy has embarked on a journey to introduce a world-class electronic milk traceability system which can track milk used in its two flagship products –The Pelwatte Yoghurt and Pelwatte Full Cream Milk Powder (as well as other Pelwatte dairy products).

As part of the introduction initiative, Pelwatte Dairy has fortified Pelwatte’s milk cold supply-chain practices, and has launched on a study and analysis of the entirety of its cold supply-chain and thermal preservation systems. Bowzer truck’s temperature preservation capabilities, the MCC chilling temperature maintenance and practice of timely route turn-over are critical aspects investigated in the current study. This, Pelwatte expects will further improve the milk temperature maintenance efficiency in many points of transport and storage such as bowser trucks transportation from MCC to the factory, as well as milk farmer to milk chilling center where milk is chilled for 4 “C. The critical data from the study will become key inputs in terms of quality testing and screening of milk tested through QA Lab before the processing and production authorization is given.

Pelwatte considers that the afety of products such as Pelwatte Yoghurt to be “critical” and indispensable.

Managing Director of Pelwatte Dairy, Mr Akmal Wickramanayake elaborates: “Milk is highly perishable and must be consumed or processed within a very short time – after extraction. Pelwatte ensures that the collection, transportation and processing of the fresh milk required to produce the yoghurt are scientifically and methodically done at all stages of the production cycle. Integration of supply chain technologies to maintain the cold chain of raw milk from farmer to factory is one of the many challenges that a milk collector faces on a daily basis. Inspite this, Pelwatte Dairy has been successful in the local dairy industry by being instrumental in managing a sustainable dairy farmers, collectors’ base and preserving its’ milk supplies by chilling it to 4 “C at high speeds –often, within minutes, which is critical for the high quality of the final product.”

“Any deterioration in the quality of raw milk, transportation or storage results in whole milk consignment tommediately rejected at the Pelwatte processing plant” adds Managing Director Wickramanayake.

Training on cold chain maintenance for tanker drivers, using heat management processes, regular MCC chiller maintenance and follow ups, rigorous laboratory testing of incoming milk at the factory are routinely performed resulting to be cornerstone of the quality of all Pelwatte Products.