REPORT ON: A VISIT TO PARAG MILK FOODS PRIVATE LIMITED

MANCHAR(PUNE)

Course: M.Sc Microbiology (Part-II)

Semester III
Name: Patil Saurabh R.
Roll no:

K. J. Somaiya College of Science and Commerce

Vidyavihar, Mumbai- 400 077

Acknowledgement
I would like to express my sincere thanks towards authority of the Parag Milk Foods
Private Limited, Manchar, Pune for permitting us to conduct an industrial visit to their
dairy plant.

As well as sincere gratitude towards our Department of Microbiology, K.J. Somaiya college
of Science and Commerce for arranging such an enriching and interesting visit. I also
would thank the on-field Guides which spent their valuable time and energy to guide us
throughout the sessions, their easy explanations and doubt solving skills were very good.
They were patient to our behaviors and doubts which is also appreciable. At their cheese
production plant and Pride of Cows milking plant we tasted delicious products of milk.

Now with enriched brain along with lots of information and memorable experience I want
to represent report of the respective Industrial visit.
 A visit to Parag Milk food Pvt. Ltd was organized by Microbiology department of
K.J.Somaiya College, Vidyavihar (Mumbai) on 15 th July, 2016. The visit co-ordinator was
Dr.Reshma Turbhekar. Parag industries work under brand name of Gowardhan Dairy farms
wherein they have 2 units i.e. Bhagyalaxmi dairy farms and Gowardhan manufacturing unit in
Manchar,Pune. It is situated 60 kms from the Pune-Nashik highway.

The foundation stone for Gowardhan brand was laid in year 1992 by Parag Milk & Milk
Products Pvt. Ltd. The establishment is spread over 35 acres of land and additionally has 700
acres for development of food for fodder production for the cows & currently is the largest
private dairies in India having variety of certifications. The industry has ISO 9000, AGMARK,
HACCP & EIA certifications. Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd have plants in Manchar(Maharashtra)
& Palamnar(Andhra Pradesh). Gowardhan owns a farm called Bhagyalaxmi Dairy Farms &
GO manufacturing unit. The dairy farm has a special breed of cows from Denmark called
Holstein Freisens which have good hygiene & a good yield (better milk giving capacity when
compared with normal breed of cows)
Mr.Devendra Shah, now the Chairman & Managing Director of the industry founded Parag
Milk Pvt. Ltd in 1992 during co-operative times. During those days there used to be milk
holidays & hence the cattle farm owners or farmers had to dump or throw away the milk as the
co-operatives did not take milk from them on holidays. Mr.Shah took advantage of this
opportunity and started collecting this milk, processed it & hence Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd was
born. Their organizational structure is designed in such a way that Parag Milk Food Pvt. Ltd is
the parent company and is further bifurcated into 1) Gowardhan which produces traditional
products like ghee, dahi and milk powder 2) GO which produces cheese products and yogurts &
3) Pride of Cows producing premium milk. They have a vision of transforming the goodness of
milk into health, energy and vitality. For fulfilling their vision they have huge investments in
terms of the infrastructure and the newest technologies, commitment to quality and innovation.
There is no human interference or direct contact with the dairy products and the dairy farm is
fully automated. The entire basic introduction about the company, their stratergies, vision,
products was given in presentation form by Ms.Reshma. We were also shown their commercials
and television advertisements. From 1992-1998 the industry collected and processed milk &
made ghee and dahi while exporting the commodities. But the major turnaround came in year
2008 for the industry when they set up Indias largest cheese production plant.
 The company recently forayed into Uttar Pradesh with their brand Gowardhan Ghee in
February, 2015. After the initial introduction to the plants set-up & plan of work for the day
Ms.Reshma took us to the 1st unit i.e. the GO or Gowardhan cheese factory. The facility has a
huge milk holding capacity of around 8 lakh litres/day required for all the processes and products
to be manufactured. We were not allowed to take any writing material or even were not allowed
to use our camera phones anywhere inside the facility for the sole reason to maintain their trade
secrets. Upon entrance we were given clean & crisp aprons, head & foot covers and face masks.
The reason for this was that even if a single strand of hair falls into the in-process product it
would contaminate & hence they would need to discard off the whole batch of product, which is
a justifiable reason as they dont want their plant to stop working even for few hours which could
result in huge loses for them. Also any accessories on our body were discouraged and had to be
removed. Inside the facility we were shown live production of milk foods like Cheddar cheese,
Mozzarella cheese, Paneer, Gouda cheese and its storage while explaining its storage for more
than 6 months, and also of normal cheese. Also the packaging aspect was shown to the students.
We will go through the whole plan of work for the day one by one. The important thing which
should have a special mention is that there is no human-contact throughout the whole process of
receiving of the milk till the time of packaging of the final milk product hence ensuring that the
customers get premium brand & quality of milk food products. The plant i.e. Gowardhan cheese
factory has an output capacity of 25 million tonnes of ghee, 10 million tonnes of yogurt, 65
million tonnes of milk powder, 10 million tonnes of butter and 10 lakh litres of milk per day. The
company forayed into the market & achieved substantial success with their milk powder but after
the governments ban on milk powder as there was shortage of milk, Parag Industries entered
into other fields of products, UHT milk being one of the most unique and best-selling of them
all. The product line up of the Gowardhan cheese plant is as follows:-
- Go cheese slices
- Go cheese powder
- Go cheddar cheese
- Go pizza cheese
- Go mozzarella pizza toppings
- Go creamy cheese spread
- Go processed cheese in various forms and flavours.
 One thing about Gowardhan is that it is not fully automated so the workers did not have to
lose their jobs to machines and also it supports over 1 lakh farmers from surrounding villages by
buying their milk. These farmers only have contracts with Gowardhan so they take good care of
their cows and nurture and give them nutrition so that they produce good quality milk. Other
products made in this plant include dahi(yogurt), ghee, milko, butter. The efficient working of
the dairy can be attributed to its performance of operations in different sections like Raw Milk
Receiving Dock, Milk powder manufacturing section, Ghee/Butter/Dahi sections, Cheese/Cream
sections, Quality assurance section, Cleaning in place section, Maintenance section, Effluent
Treatment section and the most important of all the Marketting section.
The products have a less synthetic and more of natural texture & taste. The cheese slices are
made with UHT technology & hence have a greater and longer duration of shelf life & taste salty
with creamy consistency. The pizza cream and cheesy cream spread are a combination of the
cheddar & mozzarella cheese with a variety of flavors like Black pepper, Tomato salsa, Mexican
herbs twist. Processed cheddar cheese is one of the great commodities of Parag Milk Foods Pvt.
Ltd industries. Cheddar & Gouda cheese both require a storage period of more than 6 months as
aging helps them in proper ripening. The cheddar cheese powder is a great addition as it is
crumby, has a perfect cheddar flavor and can be combined with foods like popcorn, pasta or even
as a matter of fact with soups. The amazing part is that all of these products are exported to over
47 countries globally all around the world. The basics of any milk food products production or
manufacturing is the very important component of raw milk. Fresh, tender, good quality, no
water added, contamination free raw milk. And the most important aspect in such big industries
is the continuous supply of raw milk from farmers or small dairies which is included as a part of
their deal mentioned in the company-farmer private contract.
The milk is collected in the tanks situated just outside the Gowardhan cheese factory which
have a monstrous milk holding capacity, wherein the milk is automatically vacuumed into the
tanks from the milk transporting vehicles. The current holding capacity of the facility is 8 lakh
litres of milk per day in flash season i.e. when there is milking season and 6 lakh litres of milk
per day in lean season. The capacity initially was 30,000 litres of milk per day when the cheese
plant was set up. Tankers either traverse to the plant & provide milk or even the farmers provide
milk in cans of milk which can hold upto 40 litres of milk. Multiple cans are transported by
vehicles to Gowardhan cheese factory. The milk transported by the tankers 1st has to undergo
quality checks before being used by the industry. The Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) put
forward for this quality checks is that whenever the tankers check in at the gate of the industry
their initial weight is recorded. Then the tankers arrive at the milk loading docks from where a
part of sample from each tanker is taken for quality assurance. If the milk does not pass the
quality assurance, whole of the milk lot is just dumped and is not used further for any processes
& is not even eligible for selling. If the milk lot is accepted by the quality assurance department
then the tankers are unloaded & the empty tankers are weighed again. This is done so that the
weight can be cross checked with the weight of the milk in the receiving docks. The tankers are
cleared, given a go green signal chit and they check out of the facility. As in the case of transport
of milk through cans they are stored in 8-10c during transportation & are directly sent for
checking microbiological quality of the raw milk.
Then we were taken inside the cheese manufacturing unit where we were introduced to
production processes by Mr.Amit. He explained to us production of various milk food products
like cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, gouda), paneer, etc. Various production processes and storage
conditions were explained to us students by Mr.Amit but before that a very important process
was explained i.e. of pre-treatment of the raw milk before processing. The most standardized
method at Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd is standardization of the raw milk and the milk fats content
in that. This is done due to the fact that the fat content in skim milk or cheese is way different or
we can say less than the fat content found in the normal raw milk that is received. Thus a part of
milk is directly homogenized & a part of milk is homogenized to separate cream & skim milk
lacto. Then both the parts are individually pasteurized and then mixed in a aseptic tank
conditions. The basic reception of flow of milk in Parag industries is receiving raw milk &
performing QA/QC tests. If it is not rejected then it is transferred to tanks & subjected to
separation and homogenization. Through separation it is sent to cream balance tanks cream
pasteurizer & then forwarded to Butter/Ghee sections or it is pasteurized to form skim milk.
Through homogenization it is pasteurized, standardized & then sent to cheese production
section, whole milk powder production or Dairy whitener sections or just stored in aseptic tanks.
MILK POWDER OR DRIED MILK:-

The various kinds of milk food products have a very rapid, sterile and economical production
process & we will discuss some of the products and their production in a gist which was
discussed by Mr.Amit. The 1st product & the oldest one from Parag industries is the milk powder.
Milk powder or dried milk is basically removal of water from milk by process involving heat or
other processes in accordance with the availability of machinery in ones production plant in
order to produce a solid containing 5% or less moisture. Parag industries (Gowardhan) basically
have 3 kinds of milk powders namely 1) Whole milk powder (WMP)-having less than 5% water
content, fat less than 26% and acidity levels of less than 1.2% 2) Skim milk powder(SMP)-
having less than 5% water content and having acidity and fat content both less than 1.5% and the
last 3)Dairy whitener (combination of cow & buffalo milk)- having less than 5% moisture and
acidity levels less than 1.3% and fat content less than 18%. It is basically produced by pre-
heating the milk several times while going on increasing the temperatures with each cycle &
passing through a series of evaporators to get a concentrated solid mass of milk. Spray drying is
the commonly used technique which uses air filters, air heaters, fluidized bed dryers, drying
chambers, powder sifters, etc. The milk powder production is usually in 2 steps i.e. in 1 st step the
air in the chamber is heated & the concentrated milk is passed through to remove maximum
moisture. The cyclone apparatus separates gases and the powder and is discharged from bottom.
In the 2nd stage, the powder collected is brought down to desired moisture level content. The
outlet temperature in this step is higher than conventional drying so that it removes the last of the
moisture in the food sample. The Parag Milk Food industries claim that their powders have a
great taste and can be used as sprinkles for garnishing foods.

CHEESE:-

Mr.Amit was particularly enthusiastic when it came to informing about the cheese production
because the reason that Gowardhan has a strong foothold in the market currently is all due to the
cheese production line tentatively named as GO as it resembles cow in hindi. GO basically is
the reason Parag industries is giving a stiff competition to the likes of Amul. We were given
general instructions so as to how to behave in & around the cheese plants. Mr.Amit explained
about the various types of cheese the Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd manufactures like cheddar,
mozzarella, processed, gouda, and its various forms like cheese slices, cheese triangle, shredded
cheese, pizza cheese, cheese spreads, etc. Initially we were taken to the controls panel room
wherein all of the cheese production facility is connected to computers through a super software
which controls every process almost independently. Each & every machine is connected & at
what stage of the production is it working is all displayed on the computers. The online/offline
status, Cleaning in place status, etc. are all indicated on these computer screens. It is a very
efficient way of monitoring the production with least amount of tedious work. All the controls
are automatically given orders by the software and it helps in keeping record of the whole
production activity batch-wise & maintains catalogues too. Then Mr.Amit took us to the actual
cheese production facility and the machines were shown around. The manufacturing of cheddar,
mozzarella, processed and gouda cheese were explained to us students by live ongoing
demonstration of the production through the machines which churned out the curd. The huge
machinery is always cleaned by following the Cleaning in Place protocol. It was discussed what
exactly the cheese is & it was stated by Mr.Amit that, the product which is obtained when
coagulating agents are added to milk with latter addition of bacterial cultures to give a
coagulated final mass which after aging ripens and turns into cheese. The curd is separated
beforehand & is cut through wire knifes which is then collected at the bottom of the machinery.
Then the workers manually scrap off and by action of vacuum pumps it is pumped out into
another room and the remaining part of the milk after curd separation is sent for cheese
processing and production which was explained in detail by Mr.Amit.
1st we were explained about cheddar cheese which is a hard and ripened form of the cheese
having the longest shelf life out of all types of cheese produced in Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd.
The sole reason for its longer shelf life is the low moisture content unlike other cheese variants
which causes molds to grow on them. It requires 6 months of storage at 4c for ripening. The
basic gist of cheddar cheese production was given to us students as follows:-

The milk is received in the holding vat tanks & addition of CaCl 2 and rennet is done The milk is pre-
heated and the respective cultures are introduced into the milk The milk then coagulates and then it is
cut into blocks of cheese The curd is cooked off and it is transferred to block former apparatus The
blocks are kept upside down and rotated once per week and then weight is put on them The blocks are
vacuum sealed and checked through metal detectors Stored into blast freezers(-18 to 20c)

The cheddar cheese is manufactured, exported & supplied on demand with good packaging
and also customized packaging is done to meet customer specifications. Also the other variant of
the cheddar cheese is the orange block cheddar cheese. Next we were explained about processed
cheese which is just a modification of the cheddar cheese wherein there is just addition of salts
& emulsifiers and processed with help of little heat treatment. The ingredients added to
processed cheese are sodium citrate, citric acid & sorbic acid, the concentrations of which may
vary & are included in their manufacturing secrets.
Mr.Amit next explained the well-known & most loved cheese i.e. the mozzarella cheese. It is
a kind of cheese wherein there is high amount of moisture content & it is preferable to serve on
the day it is manufactured but as it is not possible it can be preserved up to a month and also due
to the fact that it is treated with brine during processing it can last as long as 6 months. It is
usually made from pasteurized cow milk with help of Italian technology & has an excellent
stretch ability, high melt ability and also is very soft cheese. The processing of the mozzarella
cheese is different from that of cheddar or processed cheese and is as follows:-

When the milk is received it is primarily filtered & immediately chilled It is standardized &
bactofugation process is carried out in the storage tank The milk is then pasteurized & preheated and
is transferred to OST storage wherein it is allowed to settle Then it is cut & cooked and transferred to
alfamatic where there is removal of whey & then again it is subjected to cooking after which it is
stretched out( this is the reason it turns soft)Then it is subjected to brining & vacuum packing in thin
sheets It is then ripened in cold storage wherein after this it is shredded Packaging is done &
checked through metal detectors It is then stored at -18c

Next a very interesting type of cheese was introduced to us & we were not aware of it until
informed by the Gowardhan personnel. It was the Gouda cheese. The process of production is
same until removal of curd. After that process the whey is separated & there is addition of water.
This is the reason it tastes sweeter as all the lactic acid is washed off by addition of water. It is
processed in molds & then socked in brine. The unique feature of this cheese is like it works on
principal of wine, the more the older, the more the tastier & caramelized sweeter it gets.
Mr.Amit also mentioned about the production of ghee and butter. It was not explained
elaborately but as the industry manufactures and sells them it is mandatory to include & mention
both these products in this report.

GHEE:-
Ghee is the most basic form of milk product wherein no coloring, or flavoring additive is
added, it is just solely a clarified fat extracted from milk or desi butter. The production of ghee in
Gowardhan is done by Prestratification Method which produces a final product containing less
than 0.5% water content, 99-99.5% milk fat and should be free from any foreign contamination
or sediments. Gowardhan claims to have 100% clarified milk fat with sweet aroma of pure ghee
with no added colour which can be stored at ambient temperatures. It is packaged in forms of tin,
polypack, jar and cake.

BUTTER:-
It is a comination of cream & curd from either cow or buffalo or combination of both milks
without addition of salts or any other additional additives. Butter should not have moisture
content more than 16%, salt less than 3%, curd less than 1.5% and fat not less than 80% in the
final product. 2 kinds of butter are manufactured at Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd i.e. 1) Salted or
Table butter & 2) Unsalted or White butter. A basic layout of the production of butter is as
follows:-

Cream is stored in tanks & pasteurized and then chilled to 9-11c Churning is done & butter milk is
extracted The washing is done and to working process addition of salt is done Then the blocks are
unloaded on trolleys which are cleaned and sanitized beforehand Primary and Secondary packaging is
done and stored below 23c

The real secret behind the success of Gowardhan or GO as a brand can be attributed to the
fact that they keep themselves abreast with the younger generations and their needs, targeting a
certain age group of crowd hence in synonym with this concept they have recently launched a
variety of Dahi. The variants are 1) Thick dahi containing 3% fat, 0% cholesterol and made from
pasteurized milk 2) Trim Low Fat dah which is 98% fat free & rich in calcium 3) GO Fruit &
Dahi Fusion dahi containing 2.7% fat, 10% fruit, rich & natural taste of fruits like banana,
pineapples, mango, litchi, mixed berries and strawberry in combination with the dahi.
 Then we were shown the Packaging aspects majorly for the cheese products. The cheese
products are given in various forms to the customers and this is one of their strategies to lure in
more customers by presenting their products in a different way. The cheese is sold in forms of
slices, wedges, spreads, and squeeze bottles. They are the Indias 1 st shredded cheese, cheese in
tube and 1st natural flavored yogurt producers. The packaging too is fully automated with help of
workers in just arranging the products in certain orientation. The packages are printed, labeled
and wrapped by a single machine and are transported through trolleys. They are stored in big
cartons and in cold storage or blast freezer having temperatures as low as -18 to -20c.
The aspects or the characters of a product which are desirable by the consumer can be called
as quality including chemical, physical, nutritional, sensory & aesthetic properties. The consumer
should feel satisfied with the final product. The final product should be appealing, palatable,
contamination free, in proper state as intended to be, etc. Quality Assurance according to ISO:
The assembly of all planned & systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that
a product, process or service will satisfy given quality requirements. Quality control is more of
a grassroot level term wherein within a certain protocol of processing there can be minor changes
but it should not affect final product or its quality as desired by the customers. The quality
control basically ensures that the production & distribution of the final product is well within
desired limits & that it does not affect the health or the rights of the consumer & in turn also does
not have an inversely proportional effect on the manufacturers money. All the personnel in
Quality Assurance/Quality Control departments should be highly trained or well experienced to
keep a hawk eye on the production process & final quality of the product. At Parag milk dairy
there are 2 laboratories viz. 1) RMRD 2) Main laboratory.
The RMRD lab basically tests the milk samples received from the farmers on the scale of
good quality, sour taste or curdled milk & with respect to that results the farmers are paid in
accordance. The tests that are included under this are the organoleptic tests, tests for checking fat
& Solid Not Fat content. The main lab is like the core of a nuclear reactor i.e it is the heartbeat of
Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd & it is responsibility of this lab to maintain the standards of all the
products manufactured. It has been divided into sections in accordance with the tests that are
performed viz. chemical quality assurance section, microbiological section, etc. & the tests for
raw material, ghee, butter, milk, cheese, packing material are all done here.
 Mr.Amit then told us about another interesting & innovative concept followed at parag i.e.
CIP or Cleaning In Place. Through this protocol the machines do not have to be dismantled in
order to clean them after a batch of production is done. It is washed & rinsed throughout with the
help of rinsing/washing reagents & detergent solutions. The combination of the solutions is
passed through pipes, tanks & processing equipments. CIP consists of 4 major storage tanks i.e.
1) used for storage of Rinses water having temperature of around 30c 2) known Hot water tank
consists just hot water with temperature of about 85c 3) known as caustic tank holding caustic
solution & having temperature of 75c & 4) Acid tank holding nitric acid with temperature 70c.
The different equipment needs different CIP and hence varying concentration of all solution from
4 tanks is taken depending on which processing line the CIP is currently affected. The
Maintenance section has 3 categories namely Preventive, Breakdown & Daily schedule
maintenance. Preventive measures are followed yearly, quarterly, monthly depending on the
Industry requirements & protocol and through this regime every part is checked & washed,
rinsed, oiled or greased & pilot processes are run. The breakdown measures are the measures
which are taken after a machine malfunctions & the industry has such trained personnels that
can get back the machine to working conditions without any hassles or delay. The daily schedule
is followed every day so that the earlier 2 maintenance measures can be avoided.
The overall condition of the production plant is in top notch condition. You would not see a
single mark, dust, dirt, garbage even in the vicinity area and that is the level of professionalism
these people have. The personnel looked highly experienced and trained and comfort all our
queries and doubts efficiently. From the time of entry to the exit, Mr.Amit was thorough
professional handling things and bunch of students with calm headedness. The facility is so
clean, well lit up and has a positive vibe to it. The time we were done with our explanation about
the Go cheese unit we were hungry and we were fed with some cheese products from the
industry. We were even allowed to buy their milk food products at 75% rate of the current market
rate which was very good deal for us cheese lovers. Though hungry we had satisfied hearts. The
extent of global presence Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd. is amazing to know as it markets its
products in countries like Algeria, Dubai, China, Nigeria, Egypt, Thailand, Saudi Arabia,
Morocco, Philippines, Turkey, Gabon to name a few. Gowardhan as a brand targets the
households consumption and products to be used as cooking ingredients like Ghee, Butter,
Paneer, Whey and Curd. Under GO as a brand they targets the youths and childrens as product
for direct consumption like cheese spreads, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, pizza cheese,
gouda cheese, cheese angles, cheese slices, cheezo tubes, shredded natural cheese, cheese
chutney slices, lassi, cream cheese, buttermilk flavored Yoghurt and milk powders. They are
entering into the market with the hope that they will beat their competitors with new future
prospects like Milk shakes, shrikhand, Ice-creams and cheese sticks.

Then we were taken to the second facility under Parag Industries that is the Bhagyalaxmi
Dairy Farms. It is situated around 2kms from the GO cheese manufacturing plant, placed in the
heart of the heart of the village being surrounded by scenic beauty at the top of a mountain. The
whole concept was so refreshing that Mr.Devendra Shah did not invest in land much eyeing a
city connectivity but instead used that found to make the facility one of the most unique and
largest facilities of Dairy farm in India. This can be seen as they have the most advanced parlour
in india i.e. the Rotary Parlour where 50 cows get milked in just 5 minutes simultaneously.
Ms.Madhuri was the staff who was involved in the explanations and showing around the dairy
farm facility. They produce Gowardhan fresh milk and Gowardhan gold milk which is
pasteurized, toned and have the high calcium content made purely from 100% cows milk. The
Bhagyalaxmi dairy farm is situated between the Bheema river and Bheemashwari hills in the
manchar and are spread over 26 acres at land for crops for fodder as manchar is well known for
high quality green produce. The managing director Mr.Devendra Shah was concerned about the
conditions of Indians cows so he bought Denmark based Swiss Holstein and Friesian cows we
were told assemble at outside, at the dairy we were given instruction and information about the
whole set-up. We were shown a 3 day calf of the cow which was put in a cage. They write their
chip number, Date of birth, weight, gender etc. The calf are kept away from their mothers milk
in different sheds and fed on holders and milk on other sources. The sole reason for this is that
the calves should not get used to the mothers milk. The significant thing about these cows is that
they are very calm and intelligent animals. We were astounded to hear the level of care and
hygiene that is maintained in the cow sheds. The Bhagyalaxmi Dairy Farms have an
understanding or a belief that if the cows are taken good care of them so that they can produce
more milk and most important of all, good quality thick milk. So to maintain their good mood
the cows have a cow comfort technology. So the cow sheds have music going on like any music
which is enjoyable (even Bollywood music) is always on in the sheds. They have scrubbers in
individual barracks so that whenever they get itchy they can relieve themselves. Each and every
cow is numbered, has a computer chip on their tags so that each and every record can be
maintained like the information on age, their lactating capacity, location, history, mating,
movement etc. The fodder made for these cows is of premium quality made up of specially
grown alfalfa, soya, pennisetum, greens. The meal is balanced and full of proteins and nutrients
and it is taken special care to include seasonal crops and all this for one purpose, the production
of thick, nutritive milk. The feed is put in individual barracks of cows with the help of a machine
(like tractor) imported from Germany wherein it distributes the feed in equal amount to each and
every cow and hence there is no less or more nutrition per cow. To keep the cows cool there are
sprayers and mist fans, mind you the cows are untied. Another strategy to make them feel
comfortable, unlike other cows shed where there is always foul smell of dung. Bhagyalaxmi
Dairy Farms are different in this aspect too. They have designed and have taken special care of
the cow shed. The barracks have slide down at the rear end so that all the dung is away from the
cows. The workers clean it up when the cows have gone for the milking process.

Mr.Devendra Shah is a strategist which can be seen from the progress of his industry though
being from a commerce background. There is always a risk of adulterated milk being consumed
by the costumers. Also the tetra packs which were once considered safe are not fullproof now.
Mr.Shah tapped this opportunity as India has this huge problem of adulterated milk and hence he
produced a line of premium produced milk from Holstein cows. After the introduction by
Ms.Madhuri, we were taken inside the milking facility which is one of the most unique and the
costliest milking facility in India currently. It cost Mr.Shah a whopping Rs.65 crores INR for
installation of this facility. The machinery was designed by a German person named Henry. W.
Jeffers, the machine can milk a large number of cows at a time and cuts down on labour. The
whole 360 takes about 12 minutes to complete & the cows are milked within this period of time.
The cows enter one barrack at a time of the machine and go out the same way after milking is
complete. The workers clean and sanitize the udders of the cows and then press their teats to
check if milk is coming out i.e. if the cow is ready for milking, which these Holstein cows are
always ready for. If the milk oozes out the suction machine of the whole set up is attached to the
udders. The machine is so advanced that it records all the details of the cows hence identifying
each and every one of them through the ear tag bio-matrix tags & hence the dairy farm has a
record of each cow. Also a doubt was raised as if the suction part is harmful to the cows and we
found out that this is actually more safer and better than the humans milking the cows because
the humans do not apply an equal pressure which might hurt the cow but the suction machine has
an equal pressure hence being safe.

The cows are always so excited about the whole process because they are fed after each
milking session. They are so happy in the facility that they do not have to be forced into the
Rotolactor or the more commonly called Rotary Parlor as we did not observe any of the workers
pushing the cows. As the cows are in a comfortable zone, the milk produced is high in quantity,
quality and thickness. The average Indian cow gives about 7 litres milk per day whereas in the
case of the Holstein cows they give on average about 25 litres milk per day. When in peak of
their milking period some cows give 40 litres of milk per day. Parag/Bhagyalaxmi dairy farms
had one cow which gave a record 54 litres of milk per day indicating the level of quality
maintained at the farms. Ms.Madhuri gave a detailed explanation about the whole working of the
machinery and the behavior of the cows & solved doubts of our colleagues. The cow senses that
the milk is depleting & so does the advanced and sophisticated softwares of the machine. The
machine detects a 200ml/minute flow of the milk & remains attached to the udder. Once this
level of flow starts falling down the machine senses that the milking of cow is coming to an end.
The pressure loosens up slightly from the udder teats & the cows just kick off the suction pumps
and wait for their turn to get out. Once out of the Rotolactor/Rotary Parlour they themselves
return to their respective barracks which are by now cleaned by the workers. The milk collected
from the tanks placed just below the tubes is pumped to a storage facility where it is immediately
chilled to 4c. Then the milk is instantly pasteurized & packaged in bottle and stored in storage
vans wherein it is directly sent to its customers. Throughout the whole process the milk is
untouched by human hands hence maintaining the absolute taste & purity, structure & nutrients
of the milk. The other mentionable features of the Pride of Cow milk brand are as follows:-

- Low Bacterial count.

- No additives or preservatives.

- Fully automated process untouched by humans.

- Homogenized & Pasteurized milk

- Tamperproof bottles (PET) technology

- Maintenance of 4c till last leg of delivery

- Farm to home fresh cow milk delivered

The cows are milked 3 times a day and all it takes is 6 workers for the entire milking process.
Tamperproof bottle having PET technology is a very important modification of the conventional
bottles used for packaging. PET stands for Plastic bottle Eliquid Tamperproof bottles which can
be customized according to size, shape, design or logo as per the requirement of the industries. It
is non-toxic, light & has a good appearance. The importance of such packaging is that they
cannot be reclosed with their seal on indicating tampering with the product.

Nutrition Chart of Milk: Energy 133 kcal/ Energy from fat 63 kcal

Component Amount per serving Percentage (%)

Total fat 7.0 grams 10.5%

Saturated fat 4.4 grams 22.0%

Trans fat 0.2 grams -

Cholesterol 20 milligrams 6.6%

Sodium 100 milligrams 4.1%

Total carbohydrates 9.2 grams 3.1%

Sugar 0.0 grams -

Proteins 6.4 grams 12.5%

Vitamins-63 mcg Calcium-220 mcg

The pricing of the Pride of Cow milk has gone up from Rs.70 INR to Rs.80 INR in just last 3
years which is justifiable citing the facts like its nutritional contents mentioned above, high
quality processing, no contamination & direct delivery. The most amazing thing about the Pride
of Cows milk is that their customers get fresh milk straight from farm & they actually mean it
when they say it. They do the milking process early morning & package the milk transporting it
through cold storage vans to selected areas in Mumbai & Pune by the time most A-listers wake
up i.e. late mornings. The Pride of Cows milk have around 1000 customers and dur to its steep
price most clientele are A-listers like Mr.Mukesh Ambani, Mr.Akshay Kumar, etc. to name a few.
After the explanation we were given small cups of this milk to taste and savour the flavor and it
tasted absolutely fabulous with its thick and creamy texture and consistency. Not to forget its
natural sweetness, this tasted different from the usual pasteurized milk.

The whole Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd. has very unique and innovative concepts and the brains
behind this dairy is a UK citizen Edmond Piper but the most noticeable & appealing is that of the
Gaushala they own. Once the milking capacity of the cows reduces or their peak is lost or they
start getting older, they are sent to the Gaushala instead of being killed wherein they are taken
good care of until the time they die in natures ways & are sent away in the most humane ways
possible. Thats a respectable thing about this highly efficient industry and dairy farm.
REFERENCES:-