The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), defines the term 'milk' as the normal mammary .. secretion derived from complete milking of healthy milch animals, without either addition thereto or extraction therefrom, and it shall be freefrom colostrum. Consumers in India have long perceived milk as an essential item of a healthy diet and regarded it a complete food. It has been used in complementing cereal-based puddings, tea/ coffee to mid-day meal programs, just to mention a few. Milkhas a long history as a staple food in India, with total milk production touching 198.4 million tonnes and per capita availability hovering around 406 grams per day in 2019-20. Several nutritional policies and dairy industry promotion programs have recogni2ed milk as an important source of high-quality protein, calcium and more recently, as a source of quality fat. However, recently, certain imitation or substitute products and/or plant-based beverages have penetrated the market to a substantial level.The reasons attributed to this are the spurt of vegan diets, lactose intolerance and environmental concerns regarding animal husbandry.-Plant-based beverages, also marketed as 'non-dairy alternatives' of which major ones are soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk and cashew milk. Various other sources have been identified in minor quantities like oats, flax, hemp and hazelnuts. A few commercial players in the segment include Oatly (UK), Innocent Drinks (UK), Alpro (Belgium), and M+LKPLUS (Holland).
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