Cabinet spokesperson and media minister Anura Yapa said Thursday that the government had agreed to regulate advertising of branded powder milk.
This includes a mandatory slogan promoting liquid milk in every advertisement of powdered milk and to have an effective generic promotion campaign.
There are no restrictions as such but there will be promotions for fresh liquid milk in the market, Yapa said. The government is trying to promote liquid milk drinking for its high nutritive value and boost local liquid milk production.
Problems of liquid milk storage will also have to be tackled, Yapa said, to prevent the problem of spoiling in a few days. The need for proper storage could up production costs of liquid milk.
Local advertisers have said that restricted advertising without the necessary infrastructure such as large extents of land and refrigeration facilities, would not help to boost the market for liquid milk.
Sri Lanka has a 50,000 tonne a year market for milk