The 2018 November issue of Tejgazdasági Szemle (The Dairy Review) presented the highlights of the 90 years that lapsed since the establishment of the Hungarian Dairy Research Institute in 1903. The fall of the communist regime brought about massive changes for the Institute as the owner, the Hungarian National Asset Management Inc. decided to transform it to a self-sustaining business association that would continue to be owned solely by the state. Thus, the Hungarian Dairy Research Institute Ltd was incorporated on 1 January 1993. This article looks at the path the Institute has taken over the past 25 years and explores in detail the work it carried out in the last decades to improve the quality of domestic raw milk.
Transforming into a business association called for a new approach to management as the Institute had to finance its operation from own resources. Even though research and development remained at the core of its mission, more emphasis had to be laid on developing its service, trade, and production segments so that these other activities would create more value. Research and development also continued with a broadened focus: technologies and procedures worked out before had to be commercialised in order to secure revenues for further research and operation in the long run.
The early 90’s were a period of privatisation also in the dairy industry. Hungarian dairy processors piqued the interest of several large companies in Western Europe, including an Irish company which sought to take over a Hungarian public enterprise because it had milk protein products developed by the Institute in its portfolio. Eventually, this takeover did not take place, but the Irish company contacted the Institute during the screening of the above enterprise and started negotiations on the use of the production procedure of the milk protein isolate they were interested in. Soon a licence agreement was signed leading to a mutually beneficial cooperation of more than two decades.
This fruitful cooperation made other Irish dairy processors curious about the cutting-edge technologies of the Institute, and a few years later another licence agreement was concluded with the biggest Irish cooperative society on adopting the production procedure of milk protein concentrates. Thousands of tons of high-quality products were manufactured and exported from Ireland annually using the patented procedures of the Institute.
With the active contribution of the Institute, Hungary also produced and exported massive volumes of these products to European, Japanese and US markets. Positive market reactions and growing demand necessitated the expansion of production capabilities. The international relations the Institute established in the meantime led to licence negotiations with one of Argentina’s largest dairy processors as a result of which the South American country began to produce Hungarian milk protein concentrates.
High-fat cream cheeses made using a technique combining ultrafiltration and vacuum evaporation were another successful product group. These products were specifically developed by the Institute to satisfy the expectations of the Japanese market with a thousand tons shipped to the country in the Far East from Hungary each year.
On its 100th anniversary, the Institute hosted a three-day symposium in 2003. Some 300 visitors attended the event one fourth of whom came from abroad representing a total of 12 countries. At the plenary session and in the dairy production and processing sections, 21 lectures were delivered by 11 foreign and 10 Hungarian experts and scientists.
These days, dairy research and development encompass other areas of the food industry as well with the aim of producing new research results that represent value, are marketable and vendible also in industries other than the dairy sector, both in Hungary and worldwide. It is worth noting that the Institute runs its own pilot plant to enable the practical modelling of new procedures and recipes.
In 2016, the Institute created a separate unit, the biological research and development unit within its R&D section to provide scientific research, higher education, and PhD training. Scientific research pursued at the Institute serves to support its long-term competitiveness in agriculture, the food industry and nutrition science by the identification and thematic study of active biological agents among others.
After the regime change, the Institute received fewer corporate orders, so it added lab-based services to its portfolio to utilise its free capacities. Its Food Research and Testing and Raw Milk Classification Laboratory is accredited to carry out the physical-chemical and microbiological testing of the food materials, semi-finished and finished products of domestic and foreign food companies, the food products of wholesalers and retailers, the comprehensive classification of milk produced by domestic dairy farmers, and the examination of dietary supplements, medicinal products, pharmaceuticals, and veterinary products. (Currently, the Institute performs more than 180 different laboratory tests of which 141 are accredited tests.) In addition to lab services, the Institute is actively engaged in research and development aimed at laboratory methods.
As a business association the Institute intensified its trade activities and secured itself a strong position in the supply of additives to domestic dairy and food companies. It sells the natural food ingredients and additives of renowned manufacturers in Hungary which, like the Institute, are committed to the production of healthy and safe foods in every respect. Its products are marketed in the food, dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics sectors. In 2003, the Institute started to manufacture and distribute dietary supplements, formulas for special medical purposes and pharmaceutical products under the brand name Bonolact®. These products are essentially based on probiotics that have beneficial effects on the human body.
From the very beginning, that is, the early 80’s, the price-consistent classification of raw farm milk has been the hallmark of the Institute. Beset with challenges, the past nearly four decades offer a good opportunity for retrospection, to summarise our experience, to assess the results achieved and to plan for the future. From starting out with four regional laboratories through the establishment of our central accredited Budapest lab—furnished with modern equipment and suited for official milk testing—to the present day, the stages of development are evident.
Following a government decision in the late 70’s, the Institute was entrusted with the task of introducing a comprehensive control system in Hungary which, similarly to the countries with an advanced dairy industry, would meet the international standards of quality testing parameters and, through its price-influencing effect, would facilitate the improvement of milk quality.
We have come a long way from the receipt of milk based on acidity and purity testing. The control system lived up to the expectations already in the first decade of its operation. The definition of quality testing parameters, their systemic, nationwide objective review, more stringent standards, and price consistency led inevitably to the improvement of milk quality. In this period, standard plate count shrank by nearly ninety percent and somatic cell count decreased to half its former value, these two being the main benchmarks of hygienic milk treatment and the condition of the udder of dairy animals. The quantity of pharmaceutical residues in milk also dropped, and so did its extraneous water content.
The requirements imposed by the milk standard that entered into force in 1991 and continued to be in effect for more than 10 years were already in accordance with Directive 92/46/EEC. At the same time, the Institute had to face new challenges. Complying with legislative requirements, keeping up with the technical and technological advancements in testing, and meeting the specifications of the accreditation earned in 1999 were no small feat. By the time of the country’s accession to the EU in 2004, the raw milk classification system in place had been in full conformity with EU rules.
The quality of milk marketed in Hungary today meets all the pertaining requirements. In addition to competitiveness, the priorities of the dairy industry these days are food safety and the manufacturing of products with great organoleptic properties that provide healthy nutrients and can be produced using state-of-the-art technologies. All this is contingent on the supply of high-quality raw materials to the manufacturing sector. Its rich history of almost 40 years also impels the Hungarian Dairy Research Institute to play an active part in this process.
Dr. István Kótai
senior lecturer
Hungarian University of Veterinary Sciences
Dr. Róbert Kocsis
managing director
Hungarian Dairy Research Institute Ltd
