AMUL introduces camel milk powder, ice cream

ANAND, 23 October 2020: After the successful launch of Camel Fresh Milk, Camel Long life milk and Camel Chocolates, Amul has forayed further into value added camel milk products by launching its newest offering in the form of Camel Milk powder and Camel Milk Icecream.

Camel milk is known to have numerous health benefits. It is rich in minerals, improves gut health and helps in boosting immunity. Used for thousands of years across various cultures, the milk even finds mention in Ayurvedic texts for its many benefits.

Camel milk contains an insulin-like protein, which manages sugar level in the blood. Camel milk powder is a product which can help not just in management of diabetes, but its prevention as well. With increasing awareness, the demand for such camel milk products are on the rise. Rising demand, limited supply in the market and high pricing by existing players, has led Amul to tap into this enormous opportunity & enter the market.

Amul Camel Milk Powder is priced at just Rs 35 for 25g pack, (Rs 140 per 100g) which is approximately one fourth the price of similar product currently available in the market.  Amul Camel milk powder will enable lakhs of individuals to try the goodness of Camel milk across the country for the first time.

Amul Camel milk powder is made from natural camel milk procured from camel herders in Kutch region of Gujarat. The milk undergoes stringent testing and quality control before being converted to camel milk powder in Amul's modern, state-of-the-art plants. It is noteworthy that Amul has tried to maintain the powder as natural as possible with no addition of sugar or preservatives. The milk powder has shelf life of 8 months from date of manufacturing. This will be real boon to the milk producers of Kutch as it will help extend the shelf life of milk and extend its availability through Amul's nation-wide distribution network. The product has also been launched on leading ecommerce platforms.

Amul's new  Camel Milk ice cream is made from 100 percent camel milk and it is good for health conscious consumer as it contains less fat (only 4.4 percent). It has no added flavours or colors to provide authentic taste of camel milk to the consumer in form of ice cream. The product is launched in Jumbo Cup (125ml) at MRP Rs.30/-.

The product will be available nation-wide through Amul's strong icecream and frozen products distribution network.

Camel milk is also the source of livelihood for camel herders. Since, the launch of camel milk products by Amul, rates of camel milk in Gujarat have doubled for these farmers, which has revived the sector once again. The breeders who were not even getting Rs 20 per litre of camel milk are now getting more than Rs 50 per litre. The new launches will also expand  the demand of camel milk and provide the much needed support to the breeders of Kutch as well as healthy products to the consumers.

About the Camel Milk Producers in Kutch

There are around 30000 Camels in Gujarat, Mostly  Kachchhi and Kharai breeds.  Camel breeders are primarily from Rabari, Fakirani Jat, Sama, Sodha communities. There are around 1000 camel breeders. Both the breeds of the camel are in threatened condition.

In order to strengthen the livelihood source of camel breeders and to conserve the camel breed, Govt. of Gujarat has provided financial support for initiating camel milk dairy at Kachchh-Gujarat. Establishment of Camel milk dairy has started promoting camel breeding and enhancing the income of camel breeders; in addition, it will also increase the number of camels. To establish camel milk dairy in Kachchh there has been significant role and responsibility of GCMMF, Sarhad dairy, Sahjeevan organization and Kachchh Camel's Breeders' Association (Kachchh Unt Uchherak Maldhari Sangathan- KUUMS).

GCMMF was requested by our Kutch District Cooperative Milk Producers Union and NGO Sahjeevan Trust which has been  on supporting pastoralists of  several indigenous breeds including celebrated ones such as Banni Buffalo and Kharai Camel. Since Kutch Union has an extensive village milk cooperative society network across the district, an MOU was entered between GCMMF,  Kutch Union, Sahjeevan Trust and Kutch Unt Uccherak Maldhari Sangathan (KUUMS)  for procurement, processing and marketing of camel milk in April 2018. Kutch Union is currently collecting more than 50,000 litres of camel milk every month.