The era of fresh milk powder has come! Feihe (06186) is the first to respond to the national standard by including "fresh raw materials" in the standard.

Recently, the first national standard for food traceability system evaluation in China - GB/T 46453-2025 "General Guidelines for Food Traceability System Evaluation" was officially implemented, emphasizing that industry supervision focus has shifted from end product inspection to controlling the source of food ingredients and other production origins. Less than a month after the national standard was implemented, on May 28th, at the 32nd annual meeting of the China Dairy Industry Association in Chengdu, Feihe (06186) and the China National Institute of Standardization jointly released the Fresh Quality Management Standard for Dairy Source Materials (hereinafter referred to as the "Fresh Material Standard"). This standard establishes quantifiable indicators around the use period of raw materials, raw material traceability, activity retention, and heat load control in multiple dimensions, leading the way in responding to the new national standard by providing a benchmark sample for the industry. At the 32nd annual meeting of the China Dairy Industry Association on May 28, Feihe's Fresh Quality Management Standard for Dairy Source Materials was officially released. Fresh standards upgraded again, Feihe creates "visible" freshness Food traceability is not a new concept. However, for a long time, industry traceability has mostly focused on the "product information traceable" level. In the infant formula milk powder industry, the proportion of whey-based raw materials in a can of milk powder exceeds 60%, but consumers have no way of knowing where these core raw materials come from, their freshness, and the industry lacks systematic evaluation and traceability standards. Feihe, for the first time in the industry, introduced "fresh materials" as an independent dimension in the evaluation system. Addressing the freshness, procurement processing timeliness, and quality of core raw materials such as fresh milk and whey protein, more detailed requirements were put forth. "Raw materials from production to canning within 30 days" has become one of the key criteria for measuring "fresh raw materials." Leveraging its own research and production capabilities, Feihe was the first to complete technical verification and production line implementation of this timeliness indicator. Researcher Lan Tao of the Agricultural and Biotechnology Research Institute of the China National Institute of Standardization shared that Feihe is the first in the industry to incorporate "fresh materials" into the evaluation system. "In the past, when talking about the quality of milk powder, the focus was more on the formula and finished product indicators. Feihe's fresh standard targets the pain points at the raw material end, transforming 'fresh materials' into a quantifiable, traceable, and verifiable technical system, which is expected to drive a new round of quality upgrades in the infant formula industry," said Zhu Beiwei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Dalian University of Technology. While incorporating timeliness into the standard, Feihe also extends traceability to the raw material end, writing "two dates on one can" into the standard specification. Last year, Feihe launched the industry's first milk powder fresh raw material traceability system. Consumers can scan the QR codes on the bottom of products like QiCui to not only check the production date and batch number of the product, but also see the production date, source, and quality inspection reports of core raw materials such as whey protein and iron protein, allowing parents to make more transparent and reassuring purchases. With self-control over core materials, Feihe solidifies fresh capabilities In recent years, the country has been continuously promoting the "fresh" orientation of the dairy industry, emphasizing the source management of fresh quality. In 2018, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Revitalization of the Dairy Industry to Ensure the Quality and Safety of Dairy Products," advocating the use of fresh milk to produce infant formula milk; in 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation released an announcement encouraging companies to use fresh milk directly to process infant formula milk powder; and in September of the same year, the new standard for sterilized milk clearly forbade the use of reconstituted milk. Policy orientation is driving the infant formula industry from a "safety baseline" to a "fresh highline," and the "fresh milk powder era" is accelerating. Feihe's "fresh" standard for dairy source materials proposed this time, based on "freshness," incorporates the "activity" of nutrients, proteins, and functional substances into the evaluation. Further quantifiable refinement requirements are imposed on the production process and quality control of raw materials. The standard clearly defines the extraction process of various raw materials, requiring raw materials to be extracted in one step using low-temperature, physical methods, strict control of processing temperature and final product purity. Additionally, it mandates that the loss rate of key vitamins (such as thiamine) during production is controlled to within 0.05%, and Feihe's self-produced iron protein purity is not less than 97%. At the same time, limits are set for by-products such as lysine produced by repeated heating of milk to avoid excessive processing and increase metabolic burden on infants. Supporting this evaluation concept is Feihe's industry-leading "fresh selectivity process." Zhang Xuguang, Vice President of CHINA FEIHE and President of the Research Institute, described it as a technical system that balances "freshness" and "activity," preserving natural activity in nutrients such as lactoferrin and immunoglobulins by directly extracting fresh milk from its own pastures and using continuous low-temperature, physical separation. Data shows that Feihe's self-produced whey protein freshness is 23 times that of traditional raw materials, and the freshness of its casein phosphopeptides is 47 times that of traditional raw materials, resulting in a 6.4-fold improvement in actual absorption effects. Ding Gangqiang, Chief Nutritionist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out: "The higher the freshness of raw materials, the higher the retention rate of active nutrients, and the fewer heat-induced by-products, resulting in higher levels of digestion and absorption for babies." Continually defining the industry's fresh standards through three "fresh revolutions" As a leader in the milk powder industry, Feihe's fresh capabilities stem from over twenty years of deep cultivation. In 2006, Feihe took the lead in establishing its own pastures and creating the first complete industry chain in China, becoming the first in the industry to achieve 100% self-controlled farms, 100% self-owned pastures and cows, and 100% self-produced fresh milk. Currently, Feihe has 15 self-owned pastures, 14 modernized smart factories, and over 150,000 dairy cows. Through the creation of a "2-hour ecological circle," Feihe guarantees the freshness of its milk from milking to processing within two hours, ensuring a fresh source. In 2018, Feihe, in collaboration with the China National Institute of Standardization, established the "Fresh Milk Powder Standard System," promoting the trend of "one-time powdering of fresh raw milk" in the industry. Building on the complete industry chain, Feihe has further extended its reach to the core material end. After more than a decade of technological breakthroughs, Feihe has achieved 100% self-research and production of eleven crucial raw materials, including lactoferrin, desalinated whey powder, and casein phosphopeptides, with some already being used on a large scale in products. The company has also invested in the construction of three major dairy processing industrial clusters in Kedong, Inner Mongolia, and Yinchuan, forming a pattern of large-scale and intensive development. From the pasture to the factory and now to self-produced raw materials, Feihe's complete chain of fresh control capabilities provides solid support for the implementation of the "fresh standards." According to Li Shengli, a professor at China Agricultural University, "Feihe's complete chain of fresh control is leading in China and is also a rare model internationally, providing Chinese babies with a path of quality assurance from the source to the end." "When practice accumulates to a certain level, standards should be used to precipitate, regulate, lead, and guide companies to produce better products," said Liang Youbin, Chairman of CHINA FEIHE. Currently, Feihe's products such as QiCui and JiCui have fully applied fresh standards, effectively preserving the active nutrients of core materials through self-produced fresh materials and the Fresh Selectivity Process. Clinical evidence shows that babies fed with QiCui excel in nine key cognitive development indicators such as language comprehension, attention, and brain development, with feeding effects closer to breast milk. In response, Song Kungang, former chairman of the China Dairy Industry Association, believes, "When consumers buy milk powder now, they are no longer satisfied with basic safety requirements but are more concerned with high-quality, fresh products. Feihe is pushing for consumer upgrades with higher standards, bringing social value through active exploration by outstanding companies." From the landing of the first food traceability national standard to Feihe's pioneering release of the fresh standard, extending freshness standards to core materials, every can of milk powder's freshness is now traceable. This not only responds positively to the national food safety strategy but also signifies that the Chinese infant formula industry is moving from surface-level formula competition to a deeper construction of transparent and traceable raw materials, providing babies with better and more suitable precise nutrition.