Milk production in Brazil: quality, international market and family farm

Abstract

Milk production has been increasing in recent years in Brazil, up becoming one of the main economic activities that generate employment and income. The dairy sector is housed in an environment where there is strong competition, and thus the producers, especially small-scale, need help to market their products in order to remain on the market. Focusing on quality of raw milk produced, the primary source for all dairy products are manufactured and marketed, it is necessary to understand that milk is a noble and highly perishable food, being necessary to give attention to quality.Historically, Brazilian standards of quality milk had turned its focus to the industrialization process and final product quality by putting in the background quality of raw materials.The Normative 51 (NI 51) published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Brazil, 2002) and implemented in July 2005 in the South, Southeast and Midwest, had among its objectives, to standardize the quality of raw milk produced in the country, seeking to improve the quality for the domestic market and making it competitive in the international market. Significant portion of milk producers in Brazil still is not ready to face the demands of IN 51 and these producers will be excluded from the chain, if not adapted to this new reality. The focus of the study is to address the national dairy market, discussing aspects of hygienic quality and minimal maintenance of the milk producer in the Brazilian productive chain, trying to understand how you can make within the rules, not excluding a significant portion of the thousands of Brazilian producers, who depend milk for the maintenance of the properties and monthly agricultural families.