Gloria defends powdered milk with new appeal

The amparo lawsuit filed by Gloria SA to avoid the application of Supreme Decree 004-2022-midagriwhich establishes that evaporated milk must be made exclusively with fresh milk, was declared unfounded by the Third Specialized Constitutional Court of the Court of Justice of Lima. Judicial sources consulted by La República assure that the company has already appealed.

The court considered that the new dairy regulation, which entered into force last October, does not generally prohibit the use of milk powderbut only defines the term “evaporated” as that obtained by the partial elimination of water only from milk.

According to the sentence, Glory it is not prevented from using powdered formula for its dairy products, “but only for the preparation of evaporated milk”. In the same way, he ruled out any type of violation of the company’s market freedom, since it can continue to sell its powdered milk products “without limit.”

The main market collector issued a statement assuring that the adverse ruling will not interfere with the effective application that they have been giving to the new Regulation of Milk and Dairy Products (by virtue of a purple jar that is almost non-existent in stores today), but that it will appeal “in defense of the rights of its consumers and free enterprise.”

The case could even go as far as constitutional Court, because “there are still many stages in the process to confirm the sentence,” according to the same sources. “This does not prevent the exercise of our constitutional right to continue questioning before the competent instances the modification to the aforementioned regulation, since we consider that said norm is anti-technical, arbitrary and contrary to the Constitution and the rights that it guarantees,” said Gloria.

Drops that fill the camel’s back

Nivia Vargas, head of the Association of Dairy Farmers of Peru (Agalep) —an organization that brings together more than 450,000 ranchers from Arequipa, Puno, Huancayo, Lambayeque, Cajamarca and Lima— welcomed the ruling and reported that last May the government of President Dina Boluarte allocated an additional S/100 million to the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion (Midis) to repower the Glass of Milkbudget that, in practice, “will solve the industry in the change of the blue jar for the purple one”.

However, until today they are still without supplies, as the mothers have denounced.” Every year the tender is made [de leche]. Since the decree came out in October, they always claim that fresh milk was quoted at a low price and, since it was more expensive for them, it was not worth changing the blue jar for the purple one in the programs. In itself, they sell each can to S / 5.20 to the State, “he sent.

For Agalep, Gloria impedes the progress of farmers by buying natural milk at ridiculous prices and, in practice, condemns Peruvian consumers to always have to drink the always more profitable powdered milk, since the market is crowded.

A monopoly position. “FAO is demanding that countries promote more natural and nutritious products of high quality. The dairy mixture is not natural by any means, it is part of a process in which it loses a series of nutrients,” Vargas said.

Glory and a long process to defend the blue jar

The modification to the milk regulation was published on April 7, 2022 and came into effect in October, with which the dairy industry had to start producing evaporated milk only based on fresh milk. Gloria used more than 30% powdered milk in evaporated milk to serve the more than 20 million Peruvians who consumed the blue jar.

Aspec reported that packaged product labeling and advertising “are of the utmost importance to consumers” as it provides them with substantial information to make better purchasing decisions. In 2020, the industry collected 1 million 063,699 tons of fresh milk. Gloria received 72% compared to Laive (9.9%) and Nestlé (8%), respectively.