Free Milk Program Potentially Turns Off Local Manufacturers Due To Import Increase, Needs To Be Watched Out

Breeders milk cattle in Getasan, Semarang Regency, Central Java. (Between/Aditya Pradana Putra)

JAKARTA Providing free milk and lunch, which is one of the programs for presidential and vice presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka continues to cause polemics. For economists, this program threatens to increase milk imports, while from the health sector, is it true that milk can prevent stunting?

According to the Ministry of Health, stunting is a chronic nutritional problem caused by malnutrition for a long time due to food intake that is not in accordance with nutritional needs. Usually, this stunting problem begins when the baby is in the womb and will begin to be seen when the child is two years old.

Stunting is a very disturbing problem, not only for parents, but also for a country as a whole. This is because stunting has long-term effects that will involve intelligence, productivity at an adult age, to the country's development and economy.

But, is milk the only source of protein to prevent stunting?

Stunting can occur as a result of malnutrition, especially in the first 1000 days of life (HPK), which starts from the formation of the fetus during pregnancy (270 days) to the child aged two years (730 days). Stunting will later affect the level of child care and health status as an adult.

Launching the website of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) 1000 HPK is also said to be a sensitive period or period golden age because the impact caused is permanent and cannot be corrected. This impact is not only on physical growth, but also on mental development and intelligence.

Paying attention to intake in the first 1000 days of life is one way to prevent stunting.

If in the previous era we were better acquainted with the terms four perfect healthy to meet nutritional needs, the Ministry of Health is currently continuing to intensify a balanced nutrition guidelines program that was prepared in accordance with the recommendations of the decision of the International Nutrition Congress in Rome in 1992.

The concept of four healthy five is perfectly popularized by Mr. Nutrition Indonesia, Prof. Poerwo Soedarmo around 1952. The concept emphasizes the importance of consumption of side dishes, vegetables, and fruit. The milk in this concept is referred to as a refinement. That is, in the concept of four healthy five perfect milk into food or drinks that are classified separately and considered a refinement.

In contrast to the concept of balanced nutrition which is now used as a nutritional guideline. Balanced nutrition is the arrangement of daily foods that contain nutrients in the type and amount that are in accordance with the needs of the body by taking into account the principles of food diversity, physical activity, clean living behavior and regular monitoring weight in order to avoid various nutritional and health problems.

In the concept of balanced nutrition, milk is included in one of the sources of protein, which means consuming milk is not a must when the protein needs are met from other foods such as fish, meat, or nuts.

"Sufficient the protein needs of children in Indonesia not only through milk," the Ministry of Health was quoted as saying.

Still from the same source, it is stated that there are other foods that have the same nutritional value as milk, and the supply is much more abundant to meet the needs of all Indonesian children, none other than fish.

In general, the composition of animal protein in fish is actually not very different in content from other animal proteins. However, fish are said to be healthier because the fat contained in fish is not saturated fat.

As a source of animal protein, fish contain unsaturated fatty acids (omega, iodine, selenium, fluoride, iron, magnesium, zinc, taurine, and coenzyme Q10). In addition, the content of omega 3 in fish is much higher than the source of animal protein.

The fish protein source has advantages over milk. Fish not only contain protein, but also contain natural compounds, namely PUFA, EPA and DHA, quoted from the Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Health also then issued food guidelines for Indonesians called the concept of'my plate filling' to campaign for food consumption in accordance with balanced nutritional guidelines. In one plate every time you eat, half a plate is filled with vegetables and fruit, while the other half is filled with staple foods and side dishes.

In addition, my plate also contains an invitation to consume eight glasses of water every day, carry out 30 minutes of physical activity every day, and steal hands with water and soap before and after eating.

From the Ministry of Health website, it is stated that the promotion of milk consumption for school-age children is quite good, but the idea that makes milk a daily consumption needs to be supported by a more in-depth study.

This is due to the need for attention to data on prevalence of lactose intolerance which is quite high, in addition to the risk of a milk allergy, as well as the risk of milk contamination that is not presented or stored appropriately, which has an impact on the incidence of diseases caused by food.

Regarding the free milk program, economist from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Andry Satrio Nugroho spoke up. According to him, domestic fresh milk production aka SSDN is still below one million tons. For information, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted that domestic fresh milk production is 968.98 thousand tons in 2022.

According to Andry, with the current high demand, cow milk imports reach approximately 80 percent. If the free milk program is realized, Andry explained, it will cause an increase in demand for milk, whereas currently 80 percent of milk is still imported.

"I am afraid that milk imports will get bigger, there will be an increase from 80 percent to fulfill promises from him. There will definitely be an import of fresh milk," said the Head of the Center for Industry, Trade and Investment Indef.

Regarding Prabowo's plan to import 1.5 million dairy cows to realize the free milk program, Andry said he could not bring it in at the same time, but periodically.

"Meanwhile, the program must continue to run. Now there is a time lag, this is what I think will be filled by imports. This should also be watched out for," said Andry.