Camel milk has emerged as a new super food as it is known to have three times more Vitamin C and is higher in iron content.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) last year approved camel milk as a food item with specific standards for sale and trade. According to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), research findings about camel milk present convincing evidence about its medicinal value for human health like in the management of diabetes, liver and kidney disorders, and it has functional food value in cases of autism in children, while boosting immunity to resist many infectious diseases.
This Diwali, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which markets Amul brand is all set to launch chocolates made from camel milk. The Amul camel milk chocolates will hit the market before Diwali.
“It is known as Amul Camel Milk Chocolate and will be made using camel milk. We will procure camel milk from Kutch and the chocolates will be made at Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union run Amul dairy at Anand,” said Sodhi to The Times of India.
According to Sodhi, in the first phase, the camel milk chocolate will be made available through some 2 lakh retail outlets across the country. Camel milk will be procured from pastoral breeds of camels mainly Kharai and Kutchi breeds.
Kutch district co-operative milk producers’ union limited, popularly known as Sarhad dairy and a member union of GCMMF, is in the process of setting up a camel milk processing plant in Kutch district, which will soon be operational.
“In the past two weeks, some 10,000 litres of camel milk have already been procured by Amul. The first cheque of compensation will be handed over to camel breeders’ association of Kutch, this week, on the sidelines of the exhibition on pastoral life, ’Living Lightly’, which will be inaugurated in Ahmedabad,” said Sushma Iyengar, lead curator, of the exhibition which is organized by Centre for Pastoralism.
Two years ago, Sahjeevan approached GCMMF to help market camel milk produced in Kutch. At that time, a project estimated to be worth Rs. 3 crore was initiated with support of state and central governments. Interestingly, it was on the sidelines of the first edition of ’Living Lightly’ organized in Delhi in December 2016, when Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) certified camel milk to be safe for human consumption. Soon after, Amul announced plans to market camel milk in 500ml bottles under its brand name.