Quality Control in the Milk Industry

I cracked open another carton of Ikivuguto. Or butter milk. Or fermented milk. Either way, it was spoiled. The third time in a month. Despite the strong push to encourage quality-assurance through factory made butter milk, the cartons that come in matching colors and labels have proved a disappointment. Part of the problem is that apathetic store owners don't bother to take down the spoiled milk from their shelves. Small business owners who only sell milk in large jugs fermented at home, along with tea and donuts, will not hesitate to tell you, "I would serve you the milk, but it's gone bad." They know that, with strong competition and not much else to offer, spoiled milk can mean one less regular customer. Rwandan fermented milk shop owners may not serve with a fake smile, forced "how are you?" and top-notch customer service, but they will not serve you spoiled milk. It might be a bit warm at times, but still drinkable.

Walking through Nakumat, the multinational super market chain store that be found in other major East African cities, I came across ten cartons of fermented milk that were part of the same shipment that carried the spoiled milk I had bought two weeks ago. And a week before that. "How can I help you?" a store worker asked me. "This is not good, right?" I asked him, pointing to the milk. He did no understand me for a moment, and said, "Yet, it is milk," and started to hand me a carton to buy. I looked at the milk and looked at him with a nervous expression. "It is old, isn't it?"

He shook his head and responded with, "Yes, it is three weeks old. It is not good. We will get more later." He did not think to take the cartons off the shelf. After all, he only worked there. They lay there, ready for more customers to buy them and not drink them once they were opened.

One reason that quality assurance does not have such an added-value is that there seems to be, in general, a high level of public trust. Which I already wrote about in an earlier post. People who own shops will tell you if their milk is bad. Walking back home with my family, when they were here visiting, we stopped at a shop of a woman who had waved to us an hour earlier. She had a genuine smile and seemed happy when we came by her shop. I asked for milk. She nodded and told her friend, who translated from English, that the milk was a bit old and not fresh enough to be served.

If individual shop owners are not out to rip you off, then you can assume, to an extent, that the product will be decent, and quality assurance is not as necessary. If quality assurance was just an extra precaution, I would be all for it, but it seems to often be mutually exclusive with individual shop owners taking precautions to assure quality goods. If you have a brand you can complain to about spoiled milk, the buck is passed to a large company, and the individual shop owner is not blamed. Some small fermented milk shop owners also serve long-lasting milk, produced by one the two large factories, and their milk is sometimes bad. It's honestly hard to blame them.

With their own locally produced milk, you literally see them pouring the large jug into a smaller jug, and can see the texture of the milk, smell it if you try, and even have a taste, just to be sure. You can't "have a taste" with a closed carton, or even see if the milk is really chunky.

And no matter how much you think fermented milk is icky, it's nowhere as icky as chunky milk from a long-lasting milk carton that you just opened.

Don't get me wrong: I think the existence of long-lasting milk throughout Rwanda is excellent, and quality controlled factory long-lasting milk is necessary. I just don't see the need to have fermented milk, which lasts longer than non-long-lasting fresh milk, put under the same centralized quality control. The sharp competition, with ten fermented milk shops within a one kilometer radius is some parts, combined with general public honesty about goods sold, does the job.