Synthetic milk in Khammam

Khammam: Buttressing the fact that over 68 per cent of milk in the country does not conform to standards of the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the trading of adulterated, rather synthetic milk is rampant in the district like elsewhere in the State.

With the authorities turning a blind eye, only the small fish are being caught and brought to justice, letting the big sharks go scot free for adulterating milk, which has the presence of urea, detergents, caustic soda, white paint and refined oil considered hazardous to health.

In one such an incident, the police on Monday caught Vejerla Murali of Achyutapuram under Aswaraopet mandal in Khammam district, who is making a fast buck preparing milk by mixing urea and palm oil. The police seized 80 palm oil sachets, four bags of urea, five kilograms of sugar, milk containers and a mixer.

The accused, who is not a dairy farmer, has reportedly ventured into this business a month ago with the help of a lab technician working in a private milk pasteurization unit.

Speaking to The Hans India, the Progressive Dairy Farmers Association of Telangana (PDFAT) president M Jithender Reddy said: “This is only the tip of the iceberg. The adulteration of milk is more even in reputed dairy units, including the State-owned Vijay Dairy.”

Stating that there is no mechanism to look into the anomalies taking place in the dairy units, he said that even the milk of reputed brands is no exception.

The dairy units, which pay less to farmers even if there was a slightest variation in the SNF (solid not fat) content in the milk, do not ensure the same rule when they sell it to the consumer, he alleged, accusing the dairy units of producing adulterated milk.

Adding a suitable emulsifier, vegetable refined oil is thoroughly mixed till it becomes a thick white paste. 

Then water is added until the paste’s density is similar to that of milk. Then urea or sodium sulphate or any one of the commonly available fertilisers is added to it after dissolving in hot water. While the refined oil acts as a source of fat, the hot solution acts as a source of solids not fat (SNF). It’s difficult for a lay man to differentiate between contaminated and pure milk, Reddy said.