Dr.
R S Khanna, International Dairy Consultant
Nobody
can afford to ignore the anger and anguish of Supreme Court on the importance
of dealing with adulteration of milk.Issue is not that the synthetic milk is
being produced and sold. Issue is the importance of food safety and health of
the consumer. Indian Dairy Association, New Delhi and National Dairy Research
Institute, Karnal have been raising these issues at national level seminars.
Nobody can afford to
ignore the anger and anguish of Supreme Court on the importance of dealing with
adulteration of milk. There have been many instances where the former
Department of Prevention of Food Adulteration, now Food Standards and Safety
Authority of India, had swooped on
the factory where synthetic milk was being manufactured in Kurukshetra and
other locations. A TV Channel had carried a comprehensive video analysis of the
process of manufacturing of synthetic milk and how it arrived at the processing
units and to the consumers. Issue is not that the synthetic milk is being
produced and sold. Issue is the importance of food safety and health of the
consumer. Indian Dairy Association, New Delhi and National
Dairy Research Institute, Karnal have been raising these issues at national
level seminars. Apart from the food safety aspect it is important to understand
the reasons for such adulteration. First, it
is to be noted that cases of adulteration surface during summer when there is
shortage in production and availability of milk and
the consumption of milk and milk products is comparatively high. Second, the scourge of synthetic
milk production
is highest in the areas that have the milk processing capacity higher than the
marketable surplus of milk. The number of factories for processing milk and
their total processing capacities is very high in Haryana, Eastern Rajasthan
and Western Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, maximum problem of adulteration is faced
in these areas. Most notorious areas known for synthetic milk production are
Bulandshaher and Mewat zone of Rajasthan and Haryana. Kurukshetra has been
repeatedly been known for this scourge in the past also. Most of the milk
processors have been reacting that the television channels were regularly
making loud noise about the manner in which milk was being adulterated and
accepted by the milk plants. They felt that the media cry was uncalled for and
there is need to counter it. It was alleged that the media is blowing the
incidents of adulteration beyond the actual facts. With festive season having
started the news channels have opened their archives of stockshots again. The
allegation is true to the extent that the message being communicated is that
all milk and milk products are adulterated. This may not be true. But then how
can the news channel identify which milk is pure and which is adulterated.
There have also been many news about the government regulators discovering factories
of adulterated milk and ghee. And these have come in quick succession. The fact
that the milk and milk products are pure and unadulterated has to be
highlighted and certified by the processors themselves. Unfortunately none of
the milk processing dairies has come out with any statement or advertisement
pledging that its milk or milk products are truly pure and unadulterated.
On the other hand
AMUL has come out with a full page advertisement in Delhi newspapers seeking
the consumers to say “NO” to liquid milk containing powder and butter oil. In
fact this advertisement seems to lead the consumer to believe that liquid milk
when reconstituted is also adulterated or at least there is need that the
consumer must be informed of the fact that milk is a mixture of fresh and reconstituted
milk. Milk being complete food has been given the status of “nectar” in India.
For such a product to be adulterated for petty gains is really painful. This
paper had reported last year the scandal of baby milk foods being adulterated
with melamine, a protein-like contaminant, in China. Consumption of the
adulterated baby food not only
resulted in the death of many infants but had also caused severe sickness
amongst thousands of them. It all happened when baby food manufactured by
Sanlu Group Company
was given to infants and they developed kidney stones. The Chinese government handled
the matter with required severity. At least three persons were hanged to death
within one year of the scandal coming to light. The famous Fonterra Cooperative of New Zealand who
was a partner in this company decided to sever the joint venture and decided to
leave China. In India the government departments are quick in conducting raids
and that is the end of it. Hardly any cases have been reported where any person
involved with food adulteration has been punished, forget capital punishment. The
need is to bring the culprits to justice so that nobody dares to adulterate
items of food consumption. This incident is being narrated with the intent that
the same speed should be shown in India also. But will it ever happen? We still
have not seen any hangings or serious punishment to the cases of adulteration
of mustard oil with argemone that happened in 1998. Unless there is exemplary
speed in handling cases of food adulteration and deterrent punishment to the
guilty, the cases that are happening would continue with same alacrity to the
chagrin of the nation. We must learn from China! Supreme Court showing concern is a warning
for the Indian milk
processing industry. Formula to cope with this problem is simple. Milk processors
need to have the “will to fight adulteration”. If a dairy plant stops accepting
adulterated milk the scourge would wane. Most private sector dairy plants in India
do not have their own network of milk collection. They heavily depend upon
middle men for supply of milk in road tankers. It is these middlemen who
indulge in adulteration. It is commonly known that milk like substance is
produced by a mixture of urea, vegetable oil and sugar. The mixture is so
churned and adjusted that it becomes difficult to check it by tasting or
smelling. It is only through complicated laboratory tests that it possible to
detect adulteration. A milk producer who produces 5- 10 litres of milk daily and
sells it to make his both ends meet, does not have the wherewithal to prepare
such milk-like substance and add to milk. In fact the farmers do not adulterate
milk with anything other than water. It is the middlemen-suppliers
who sell milk in
large volumes of 10,000 litres and more that indulge in adulteration. It is
therefore very important that the dairy manufacturing industry sets up its own network
of collecting milk directly from the farmers. They should learn the process of
organising milk producers into self help groups from the dairy co-operatives.
In my experience this system is beneficial to both the milk producer as well as
the manufacturer. In the long run milk collected directly
from the farmer is cheaper and the farmer gets higher price that he gets from
the middleman.
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