The livestock industry in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district is thriving with each passing day. The number of milk processing units coming up in south Kashmir are playing the main role in both the upliftment of livestock industries as well as generating employment.
Lassipora in Pulwama which is around 50 km from Srinagar city is home to many such milk processing units. These units have introduced latest technologies to process milk and provide quality products to consumers. Among these units Zum Zum Milk Products is a well know milk-processing unit, which was established in 2008 in the industrial area of Lassipora. The processing unit while produces high quality milk, curd and cheese also provides employment opportunity to a number of youth directly and indirectly.
Every day at around 10-11am collectors from areas like Shopian, Tral, Kulgam and other areas of south Kashmir bring thousands of litres of unprocessed milk in canes and barrel to the plant for processing and packaging.
“We collect milk from the dealers of the areas who in turn collect them from the households, or at times we go from door to door collecting the best quality milk in the area,” said Gowher Ahmed, a milk collector from Kulgam.
“As dawn breaks, I with my other colleagues travel kilometers in different areas to collect the milk,” he said.
The procured milk is made to pass through several tests before going through main processing. At this point the milk is either selected for further processing or rejected based on the several tests that take place. When milk arrives at the Zum Zum Processing Unit, the data of the procured milk is recorded manually. The tests include some manual steps like passing of the milk through thin cotton sieve and oral testing.
“If we find any problem in odour or taste, the milk is rejected right away and it does not go for further processing. Moreover, other tests are conducted on the milk unit for the satisfaction of the milk collector,” said an employee at the initial testing unit.
Tests like fat test, COB test, alcohol test are performed on the sample in a well-equipped lab of the company. After conducting the tests, the milk processing starts which is looked over by Tajamul Salroo, the general manager of the Zum Zum Unit.
“After we take the best quality milk, fully automated machinery is put in place to process the milk. First the milk is made to pass through chilling unit which bring down the temperate of the milk to 4 degree Celsius and after that the temperature is brought up to 75 degrees,” Salroo said.
“It is the core part of milk processing which helps in eliminating the harmful bacteria,” he added.
Zum Zum claims that it uses the best possible technology to bring out best and healthy milk products to its customers. They say that their fully automated system doesn’t allow the half processed milk to go forward, so in case of any technical snag, the process repeats itself.
“We use a homogeniser from Tetra Pack which is the best brand of machines in milk processing. In the homogeniser, the fat is broken down which is very essential for milk processing,” Salroo said.
Other than milk packs, the unit also produces curd which goes from entirely different process. The milk for curd is boiled up to 90 degree Celsius and again the resultant milk is kept at 45 degree Celsius where Pasteurizer (Zovrun) is mixed in it.
“We import the best pasteurizers from Italy and select as per the taste of our local population,” says Shafaat Ahmed Shah, managing director of the company.
“Taste is the basic requirement of the products, if we use the pasteurizer which doesn’t stand up to the taste buds of Kashmiri people, our whole hard work is useless,” he adds.
After the packing, both the milk and curd products from the unit go through final testing to clear every single doubt in the product. The unit is providing hundreds of job opportunities to the locals of south Kashmir districts. Those involved in milk collecting at grass root level to those who are in fodder business are benefiting from these business units in Lassipora.
The Zum Zum unit has the milk handling capacity of 40 thousand liters per day; however they are currently processing around 20 thousand liters only due to low market demand. These units in the industrial area of Lassipora are both helping in uplifting of livestock in the area and at the same time many youth are getting employment opportunities at doorsteps.
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