Jammu, October 11
A day after announcing to resume the milk supply within municipal limits, milkmen, mostly Gujjars, today asked the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) to upgrade its procedure of testing milk, alleging that it was "obsolete and below national standards".
"To save milk from converting into curd, a limited amount of ice is added to maintain the temperature of milk in summer season, which generally has a minute effect on it but there is no change in its fat content. This can no way be termed as adulteration," Jameel Choudhary of the Dodhi Gujjar Association told reporters here.
He dared the civic body to show any provision or norm of the Food Safety Act, which allowed them to destroy milk during the collection of samples.
He demanded that the rates of milk and other milk products be enhanced with immediate effect as the Gujjars had been suffering losses because of high cost of cattle feed and fodder.
JMC officials, meanwhile, blame the state government for its failure to release funds for purchase of mobile testing labs to check milk adulteration at all entry points of the city.
"A proposal to purchase new mobile testing labs to check the quality of milk was mooted
last year after the release of an alarming report by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in January 2012. The report stated that 83 per cent of milk sold in urban areas of the state was not safe for consumption. However, the proposal is yet to be implemented due to red tapism," said an official.
In 2012, the FSSAI had collected 18 samples from different areas of the state as part of its nationwide study and had found that most common form of adulteration in the state was that related to Glucose and Skimmed Milk Products (SMP).
"The civic body is still dependent on the lab which takes days to give out the results. Mobile labs can provide us with a tool for on-the-spot checking," the official said.
Kiran Wattal, JMC Commissioner, and Vinod Sharma, JMC Health officer, were unavailable for comments.
A day after announcing to resume the milk supply within municipal limits, milkmen, mostly Gujjars, today asked the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) to upgrade its procedure of testing milk, alleging that it was "obsolete and below national standards".
"To save milk from converting into curd, a limited amount of ice is added to maintain the temperature of milk in summer season, which generally has a minute effect on it but there is no change in its fat content. This can no way be termed as adulteration," Jameel Choudhary of the Dodhi Gujjar Association told reporters here.
He dared the civic body to show any provision or norm of the Food Safety Act, which allowed them to destroy milk during the collection of samples.
He demanded that the rates of milk and other milk products be enhanced with immediate effect as the Gujjars had been suffering losses because of high cost of cattle feed and fodder.
JMC officials, meanwhile, blame the state government for its failure to release funds for purchase of mobile testing labs to check milk adulteration at all entry points of the city.
"A proposal to purchase new mobile testing labs to check the quality of milk was mooted
last year after the release of an alarming report by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in January 2012. The report stated that 83 per cent of milk sold in urban areas of the state was not safe for consumption. However, the proposal is yet to be implemented due to red tapism," said an official.
In 2012, the FSSAI had collected 18 samples from different areas of the state as part of its nationwide study and had found that most common form of adulteration in the state was that related to Glucose and Skimmed Milk Products (SMP).
"The civic body is still dependent on the lab which takes days to give out the results. Mobile labs can provide us with a tool for on-the-spot checking," the official said.
Kiran Wattal, JMC Commissioner, and Vinod Sharma, JMC Health officer, were unavailable for comments.
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