China Business:Popping round to the dairy

Alexander Speirs visited the factory at Yili and met some of the producers at Mengniu.

Yili and Mengniu have opened their farms and factories to help restore Chinese consumers' confidence in their domestic dairy products, reports Alexander Speirs.

The Herald opted to take the same tours that more than a quarter of a million locals took last year.

At Mengniu, a plethora of foreign flags line the entrance with New Zealand's flag firmly in the centre as the virtues of foreign partnerships are extolled in perfect English by our guide.

After signing a safety waiver, we are quickly whisked off to the factory. Head-to-toe protective gear is mandatory. But the one size fits all approach doesn't work for all foreigners. After four sets of shoe covers were ruined trying to accommodate my size 12 feet and a pair of overalls torn, we were finally off along an elevated platform above the factory.

On one side is the factory operations. On the other, an array of dioramas and exhibits detailing the virtues of dairy nutrition and the history of Mengniu and its partners.

The entire dairy production process is exhibited and detailed, from when the tankers deliver the raw milk through to packaging and processing.

It's difficult not to be impressed by the factory. It's clean, modern and the closed system throughout the plant is on full display for consumers to see.

There's a definite effort to highlight and detail the testing and safety procedures place, both internally and through the verifications carried out by third party laboratories.

"This is all about making sure we have an open and transparent line of communication between us and our customers," says Mengniu's Paul Wang. "We still commonly get questions asking us whether we will drink our own milk and that shows a real lack of communication.

"We've tried traditional ways of getting our message across and now we're looking at more interesting and creative ways in which consumers can engage us.

"We invite any of our customers to come to any of the Mengniu plants - any of our 29 production bases or 50 plants all over China - and come to visit us."

Yili's tour is similar to Mengniu's - this time however I have the benefit of being the guest of honour and personally guided through the facilities.

Again the factory is designed to be open and accessible, with walkways and viewing platforms throughout the plant.

It's the biggest facility of its kind in Asia and features a plethora of world-class technology. The innovations and efficiencies developed are on full display, and as it's explained, I'm finding myself a quick convert to Chinese dairy gospel.

Both tours ended with a tasting test of the factories' products. It's definitely an only-in-China experience as gorgeous girls produce trays of flavoured milk, ice creams and yoghurt. For the record, yoghurt - brilliant, ice cream - delicious, flavoured milk - never again.

Education makes up a significant part of the tour. Nutrition and safe dairy practices are discussed in detail throughout, with a plethora of materials given out at the end of the tour for audiences of all ages. It's a vital part of all major dairy producers communication strategy for engaging consumers, Fonterra included - as the benefits of dairy remain a relatively unknown commodity among some consumers.

One area of focus for Mengniu is teaching consumers about what their different products do and how they work to make up nutritional deficits in an average Chinese diet.

"Some areas of our standards are more tailored to Chinese consumers and they are a better fit than international products because the infrastructure of food is different from other countries," says Wang. "With our infant formula for example, there are different nutritional requirements dependent on areas of food shortages in China - making sure they get the right nutrition can be very different. The food is different, the mothers milk is different and the babies nutritional needs are different".