Moo! Now milk’s a woe

- Samples low on nutrition, but food controller denies chemical hazards

A.S.R.P. MUKESH

Jharkhand’s milky way to good health is in serious jeopardy. All the 13 dairy samples collected from Ranchi last month have tested low on nutrients, corroborating a report collated by a central agency that suggested large-scale adulteration of milk. Though the state food controller has ruled out hazardous chemical contaminants, the veracity of his statement will be determined when the detailed laboratory report comes out on Monday. Alarmed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) findings, Jharkhand High Court had on January 12 initiated a public interest litigation and suo motu directed the state government to inform what steps it was taking to stop the malpractice. This spurred the health department to launch surprise raids in different parts of the state, beginning from Ranchi on January 13. The two-day raids in the capital alone led to the collection of 13 samples of various brands, including Sudha and Medha dairies run by the animal husbandry department. These were put to tests at the Mineral Area Development Authority’s (Mada) laboratory in Dhanbad and none of them proved to be 100 per cent pure. State food controller T.P. Burnwal confirmed that the tests for Ranchi were completed on Friday, but insisted that he was yet to get the detailed report and was tracking lab developments over phone. “All the samples have been found to be substandard. They are low on nutrition values, which means they don’t contain the desired amount of carbohydrates and proteins. The water-milk ratio too is beyond the permissible mark,” he said. Burnwal, however, stressed that the milk samples did not contain hazardous contaminants. “I should make it clear that substandard milk does not mean that it is always harmful to one’s health. That is a misconception. In other words, low on nutrients does not mean dangerous. It means the intake of that milk may not give you benefits as expected,” he added. The FSSAI had conducted a nationwide survey and collected 1,791 samples, of which 1,226 had tested positive for milk adulteration. The reports suggest that most Indians are consuming detergents and other contaminants through milk. The survey found that apart from Jharkhand, milk circulated in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha was also doctored. The first-of-its-kind snapshot survey had found that about 68.4 per cent of the samples carried detergents. Other contaminants were urea, starch, glucose and formalin. However, according to the state food controller, the FSSAI report on Jharkhand didn’t mention harmful chemicals such as detergents in milk. “The report we got from the central agency talked about adulteration but didn’t detail on what kind of contaminants. To our knowledge, the most common form of adulteration in Jharkhand is solid non-fat such as rice powder and flour. They are edible and not harmful to health. But they rob the nutritional value of milk,” he said. If Burnwal is to be believed, the tests at Mada didn’t mention any such solid non-fat and the most common adulteration seems to be water and skimmed milk powder. “When adulteration is in the form of water, one needs to find the source of water. We have to see whether the water was treated. Also, if a milkman washes his hands with detergent before adding water to the milk, there are chances of finding traces of detergent,” he said. But does that mean defaulters (almost all brands in state) won’t be taken to task? “No. As a first step, we will warn them and ask them to adopt corrective measures. For instance, selling skimmed milk isn’t illegal, but the packet should mention it is without cream so that people know what they are buying and do not feel cheated. Thereafter, we will begin a crackdown,” he said. Burnwal further said that random sampling might not reveal the exact causes of adulteration. “We need to conduct regular exercises, but manpower crunch is a hurdle.” So is the defunct state food and drug testing laboratory in Namkum. The health department had initiated the process of recruitment in last week of January to make the centre operational, but in vain. According to Burnwal, the initiative failed because of an age hitch. “The upper age limit for top officials is 65 years. Shortlisted candidates didn’t meet the criterion. So, we have to redo the process,” he added.