State’s milk cooperative movement turned a new chapter recently by getting its first-ever Milma Bakery and Confectionary unit that will manufacture a variety of value-added products, including dark chocolates, within the State.
Dairy Development and Animal Husbandry Minister J. Chinchurani opened the facility near Chalakudy in Thrissur district amid plans to employ local labour and improve Milma’s profit. The unit at Muringoor has come up on the premises of a Milma chilling plant that functioned for 33 years till February last year. It became redundant when Milma’s decentralised system promoted chilling at primary milk co-ops.
The new unit will initially produce pudding cake, vanilla cup cake, milk bread, milk bun, milk rusk and different types of cookies. Milma chocolates, including the dark variety, will also be manufactured at the unit in the near future, according to a press release.
The functioning of the plant is expected to raise the number of cakes by Milma’s Ernakulam Regional Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (ERCMPU) during the upcoming Christmas and New Year seasons to much more than the usual 50,000 cakes.
Minister Chinchurani, while lauding the efforts of ERCMPU, said the Muringoor unit has been the result of making best use of existing resources. The plant will add to Milma’s range of products, she said. She also spoke about the government’s measures to make Kerala self-sufficient in milk production.
Milma ERCMPU Chairman M.T. Jayan said the farmer’s subsidy will be raised to Rs 500 from Rs 300. Also, a children’s park and a food-crafts unit will come up in the unused space in the 1.76-acre plot at Muringoor.
