In a bid to use surplus milk and diversify its product portfolio, Aavin has begun production of chocolate bars.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who launched the products — ‘Nutty’ and ‘Milky and Nutty’ — at the Secretariat on Wednesday expressed her happiness over diversification of Aavin.
The chocolates will be available across the city at Aavin’s 75 parlours and will soon be sold in other parts of the State. The chocolates are priced competitively at Rs. 30 for a 45 g pack. A similar product by a popular brand is priced at Rs. 37.50 for 45 g.
Last year, dairy development minister V. Moorthy and senior officials of Aavin visited Belgium for first-hand information on the production of value-added milk products. In a press release here, Aavin said such value-added milk products were sold through its outlets to ensure due income to milk producers and supply quality products to consumers.
The new variety, Nutty, comprises dark chocolate, nuts and skimmed milk powder. Milky and Nutty, on the other hand, has milk chocolate and nuts.
The chocolates are manufactured at the dairy major’s Ambattur plant where up to 100 kg of chocolate is produced every day. Each 100 g of chocolate contains 25 g of fat, 7 g of protein and 63 g of carbohydrate, of which sugar constitutes 57 g. The energy value per 100 g of chocolate is 505 calories.
According to sources at the Tamil Nadu Milk Producers Cooperative Federation, Aavin was unable to give sufficient returns to its milk producers.
“We have to change our range of products to meet the demands of the modern consumer. Every product that we bring out as a value addition benefits the farmers too. Margins on value-added products are always higher than those on the basic raw material, milk,” an official said.
During the launch, the Chief Minister handed a pack of Nutty to Mr. Moorthy and another to chief secretary Sheela Balakrishnan. Secretary of dairy development Gagandeep Singh Bedi and Aavin managing director T.K. Ramachandran were also present on the occasion.