Famous Japanese farm sheds tears, dumping 6 tons of milk per day

(Baonghean.vn) - A farm in southern Japan with the famous brand “AsoMilk” has to dump 6 tons of milk every day after a major earthquake. Dairy farmers do not know how long this will last.

Illustration photo. Source: Asahi.

AsoMilk is known as a famous sterilized fresh milk farm in Kyushu. However, after the recent 7.3-magnitude earthquake, the factory has to dump 6 tons of milk every day.

The cause is said to be due to water cuts, the factory did not have enough water to clean the containers and production equipment, the milk was not safe and hygienic so it could not be brought to the market.

“We really don’t want to spill even a drop of milk,” said farm manager Aso Hiroki. “But we have to do it every day with tears in our eyes. Our power supply is running out and we feel really insecure.”

According to 2015 statistics from the Kumamoto prefectural livestock department, there are 631 dairy farming households in the prefecture with a total herd of 45,000 cows. This number ranks third in Japan after Hokkaido and Tochigi. The amount of milk produced in 2014 was 247,000 tons, ranking first in the entire western region of Japan.

Normally, milk is transported from farmers to milk processing companies and then to consumers, but the earthquake cut off all transportation routes to the Aso region. In addition, a lack of gasoline also made transportation impossible.

Fresh milk must always be kept at 1 degree Celsius to ensure hygiene and safety, but that cannot be done when the factory suffers heavy losses.

Following the incident, the Kumamoto Department of Agriculture urged farmers to dump their milk if it was unsafe. Farmers said that dumping the milk was the most bitter option, but there was no other way.

Le Quyen

(According to Asahi)