"Easy absorption, hypoallergenic, closer to breast milk", goat milk powder has quickly seized the infant formula market with these selling points in recent years, but this is not the case. For infants and young children, breast milk is the best absorption rate of food, whether cow's milk or goat milk, and the nutritional composition of breast milk is far from it, infant formula milk powder needs to be added according to the requirements of the national standard to achieve the purpose of simulating breast milk as much as possible. As long as the quality is qualified, the nutritional composition is close to breast milk, and the formula milk powder can meet the nutritional needs of the baby's growth and development, you can buy it with confidence.
The European Food Safety Authority's evaluation report on goat's milk protein as a protein source for infant formula also concluded that there is currently insufficient evidence to prove that goat milk powder is less likely to cause allergic reactions than milk powder. To be on the safe side, for babies with cow's milk protein allergies, instead of taking the risk of replacing milk powder with goat milk powder, switch to a specialized hydrolyzed protein formula or soy protein-based infant formula, or follow the guidance of a medical professional to choose the right formula.
Red Star Meiling is the largest goat milk powder enterprise in China, and has been recognized as a national key leading enterprise in agricultural industrialization and a high-tech enterprise in Shaanxi Province, and the ranch is located in Fuping County, Shaanxi Province, the "Goat Milk Capital of China". In 2006, Red Star Meiling built 136 mechanized milking stations, goat milk is milked out through the cold chain transportation, within 2 hours to reach the factory, not only to avoid the dairy farmers to milk, storage may lead to safety and health problems, but also greatly improve efficiency, by the provincial government Department of agriculture named the Red Star model in the province to promote.
In order to achieve a 6:4 ratio of whey protein to casein in breast milk, infant formula will add whey powder to increase the proportion of whey protein in the protein. Due to the scarcity of goat milk, and the difficulty of making goat whey powder is greater than that of cow whey powder, and the price is high, some infant formula goat milk powder will add cow whey powder. Infant formula goat milk powder with goat whey powder will be advertised as a whole goat milk formula, and the price is much more expensive than that of milk powder and non-whole goat milk formula, and the price of 800g milk powder is basically around 400 yuan. In the second half of 2017, Red Star Meiling began to introduce whey desalination equipment, becoming China's first infant formula goat milk powder manufacturer with an annual output of 1,500 tons of goat whey powder, and its strength should not be underestimated.
The main components of whey powder are lactose, whey protein and minerals, etc., while demineralized whey powder refers to whey products that remove dissolved minerals and water, and the main ingredients are whey protein and lactose. Lactose only exists in mammalian milk, whether it is cow milk or goat milk there is no difference, in addition to goat whey protein and cow whey protein have homology, the difference in the content of each component is also very small, there is no strong evidence to prove that the two sources of whey protein are different for babies, consumers can choose according to their purchasing power.
Infant formula milk powder is mostly divided into three sections: stage 1 (0-6 months), stage 2 (6-12 months), and stage 3 (12-36 months), which are suitable for babies of different ages. Now basically every brand of formula milk powder of the same series and different grades has the same price and nutritional components, only the content is slightly different, and Red Star Meiling is no exception. There are 3 series of Meiling infant formula goat milk powder: Fuyang sheep, Lingen Beibei, and Druilandi.
Since Fuyang Sheep uses cow desalted whey powder, the price is the lowest among the three series, and from August 2020, Red Star Meiling will reduce the retail price of Fuyang Sheep from 328 yuan/800g to 188 yuan/800g, the chairman said that this move is due to the consideration of the epidemic market downturn. The infant formula goat milk powder market is seriously squeezed by the head brand, and the domestic brand has little room for survival, consumers do not need to worry about price adjustment.
Milk powder does not account for a large proportion of formula ingredients, and the various nutrients added to get close to breast milk are more important. The requirements for infant formula are very strict, and the nutrients that must be added are not very different as long as they meet the requirements of the national standard, so the selling point of infant formula mainly comes from the nutrients that can be added optionally. The palmitic acid in the OPO structural lipid is mainly esterified at sn-2, which can be shed into unsaturated acid in the intestine and directly absorbed by the human body, which is believed to help reduce calcium loss. Lactoferrin is abundant in breast milk and less abundant in cow and goat milk, and the addition of lactoferrin can further mimic breast milk. The cost of these two raw materials is higher, and it is a formula that many so-called "high-end milk powder" will have, and the price of 800g and 188 yuan for Fuyang Yang is super cost-effective.
Lactoferrin, OPO structural lipids, probiotics and other optional ingredients added to milk powder can play a weak role, brands will strengthen the role of a certain ingredient as their own characteristics, due to the high cost and high-end positioning, will raise the price of milk powder a lot.
Both Lingenbeibei and Dreilanti use goat's demineralized whey powder. Druilandi has added OPO structural lipids and lutein, and also added two probiotics, Bifidobacterium lactis and Lactobacillus rhamnosus, with a price of up to 500 yuan for 800g, and the price is the highest. The price of Lingen Beibei 800g is about 400 yuan, which belongs to the pricing level of general whole goat milk formula, and although the additional DHA and prebiotics are optional nutrients, they are very common in infant formula.
