Mainland Chinese urged to drink more milk as part of national nutrition plan
China's dairy industry has yet to fully regain the confidence of consumers following a 2008 scandal in which dairy supplies were adulterated with melamine to boost protein levels, causing six babies to die and tens of thousands of others to fall ill.
Mainlanders will be urged to drink more milk and get fewer calories from traditional staples in a national plan to improve food supply and nutrition.
China's dairy industry has yet to fully regain the confidence of consumers following a 2008 scandal in which dairy supplies were adulterated with melamine to boost protein levels, causing six babies to die and tens of thousands of others to fall ill.
The China Food and Nutrition Development Plan for 2014-2020, issued on Monday by the State Council, aims to raise average milk consumption to about 100 millilitres a day by 2020, up from the 15ml per day under the 2000-2010 plan.
The other specific food named for development was soya bean, the cultivation of which in the major production region of Heilongjiang fell by half in the past nine years. China, once self-sufficient in soya bean cultivation, is the world's largest importer.
The plan was drafted due to "the inability of food production to meet nutritional requirements, the coexistence of malnutrition and overnutrition, and the lack of public knowledge on nutrition and health", a council statement said.