Xinmin Evening News (correspondent Yuyun Zhang) Why can a bottle of New Zealand’s low-temperature pasteurized milk with a 15-day shelf life get on the dining table of Chinese consumers in 72 hours when it’s still fresh? Yesterday, the “72-hour Source Tracing Live Streaming” jointly presented by Theland and TMALL ended its “long standby mode” and showed consumers the entire process from milking, raw milk pasteurization and bottling to cold chain transport, China and New Zealand’s inspections and customs clearance. The global fresh milk source tracing live streaming attracted 100,000 online viewers. The truth behind it is that the demand of Chinese consumers has gone from subsistence to quality. It reflects that today’s Chinese consumers pay more attention to product quality, brand reputation and consumption experience.

On May 16, at zero o’clock sharp China time (5:00 a.m. New Zealand time), Theland and TMALL jointly started the long standby mode and realized a 72-hour live video link for the first time. It was time for the cows on Theland Farm to be milked every day. Looking at the strange faces of the presenters up and down, the cows walked toward the milking shed.

After milking, the raw milk went to the production base for pasteurization and bottling. It took only two hours from milking to bottling. Before 4:00 p.m., the finished milk went to the freight depot for inspection. No preservative, artificial coloring or flavoring essence is allowed. The next day at noon, the milk reached Auckland Airport. Around 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., the milk was on a flight of China Eastern Airlines to Pudong International Airport. Theland Milk is transported all the way through the cold chain to China. In the meantime, every bottle of fresh milk has an ID code customized by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China. Consumers can see the whole process from production to transport by scanning the QR code.

In the last 15 hours, the Chinese presenter and the New Zealand presenter went to the CCIC Traceability Center. After the dual-inspection by the New Zealand Government and the Chinese Government, the fresh milk was given clearance to leave. In the end, it landed at the event site, Hopson International Plaza in Shanghai.

According to Liang Song, Senior Dairy Analyst, with the qualitative changes in consumer demand, serious product homogeneity and obvious impacts of internationalization since 2014, products with freshness, nutritional value and unique flavors will be more favored by consumers; low temperature milk, low temperature yoghurt, formula liquid milk, organic milk powder, cheese, butter and other products will become important choices for Chinese people in the upgrade of household consumption. The overall dairy market competition will gradually shift from room temperature to low temperature, from milk powder for drinking to cheese for “eating milk”. In addition, when choosing products, consumers pay more attention to the quality of goods and services, care more about product brand and reputation, pay more attention to consumption experience and spiritual pleasure.