Mahatma Gandhi was a firm believer in the health benefits of goat milk. Surendranagar’s Sursagar Dairy has devised extensive plans to produce feta cheese manufactured from goat milk, which will soon be available on the market.
Sursagar Dairy will shortly meet with Sahjeevan, a non-profit organisation that works with pastoral families in Saurashtra and Kutch, and will inform the Gujarat Milk Marketing Co-operative Federation (GCMMF) about the feta cheese debut in December.
GCMMF, which markets the Amul brand, has already shown interest in selling feta cheese, which has no fat. Manoj Mishra, executive director of Sahjeevan, said “We had a meeting with GCMMF officials last week about the launching of feta cheese. They tested a smaller volume production of cheese and are going to test the production from 2,000 litres of milk” reported one of the leading newspaper.
According to Mishra, the launch will take place in the first or second week of December.
The GCMMF, Sursagar Dairy officials, and the Sahjeevan team will meet soon to finalise the date, and Parsottam Rupala, the union minister of fisheries, animal husbandry, and dairying, will be invited to the event.
Feta cheese is only produced in a few locations, and India imports it from Denmark and France. Goat milk contains almost no fat, which makes it ideal for creating cheese. Surendranagar is home to a large number of goat-breeding families. They currently sell goat milk on the open market, with some mixing it with cow or buffalo milk.
Sursagar Dairy, which procures milk in the area, has already identified 17 places in the talukas of Sayla and Chotila where this milk might be obtained. This milk will be purchased in bulk milk chillers (BMC) that are already in place, and if necessary, they will also have mobile BMC that can keep milk chilled for six to seven hours.
There are about 500 goat-breeding households in the area, and the dairy has the capacity to produce 8,000 litres of milk per day, though they expect to produce only 2.000 litres at first.
Sursagar Dairy’s managing director, Gurdit Singh, stated, “GCMMF informed me that feta cheese would be available soon. We have provided them with goat milk for testing purposes, and we have the infrastructure in place to obtain this milk.”
RS Sodhi, managing director of the GCMMF, stated, “We are confident in our ability to commercialise goat cheese, which is our initial aim. We are now conducting trials, and the debut date has yet to be determined.”