Special drive to check inflow of spurious milk may hit legal roadblock

A special drive initiated by the Dairy Development Department to check the flow of spurious milk to the state during Onam season is most likely to hit a roadblock as several technical issues and legal loopholes might prove to be major hindrances.
The Dairy Department is set to establish quality information centres in all districts anticipating a huge influx of spurious milk to Kerala from bordering districts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
As part of special vigil measures, the department is also intensifying surveillance in border checkposts like Valayar, Meenkshipuram, Kumili, Aryankavu and Parassala.
Sources pointed out that the special drive will be a paper tiger for several reasons.  “Lack of coordination between several departments, especially dairy and food safety, and legal loopholes will be major handicaps in the drive,” pointed out a senior official associated with the Dairy Department.
“With the implementation of the Food Safety Act, crucial enforcement powers are entrusted with food safety officials and there is a drastic reduction in the legal power of the officials affiliated to the Dairy Department,” he said.
It is said if Dairy Department officials are detect spurious milk in their raids, they can only report about it to the Food Safety Department.  “The situation was different before 2011. Dairy Department could then invoke orders like the MMPO (Milk and Milk Products Order) to initiate legal proceedings against manufacturers of spurious milk. But with the implementation of new Food Safety Act, they have only recommending powers. This creates several problems,” a senior official said.
While the quality control wing of the Dairy Department has full-fledged laboratories in all districts armed with trained experts, the Food Safety Department has laboratories in Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Thrivananthapuram only.
“So if suspected spurious milk is found in remote regions in Idukki, to take legal action it has to be tested in the Food Safety Department’s lab in Ernakulam. It takes hours for the sample to reach the lab. In most cases, preservatives are added in the sample to prevent decay during transportation.