Apr 9, 2016

Injecting cows with illegal drugs for milk

Injecting cows with illegal drugs for milk
BY MANEKA GANDHI
Do you remember a time when the cow came to your house to give your milk? When cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad were but towns, they used to house animals inside the residential areas. Several dairies with five to 50 animals were located after every few blocks and either you sent someone to collect the milk or the animal came to you.
As the cities grew and cars increased, there came a general irritation with cows on the roads. Most of them were picked up and sold to butchers or sent to gaushalas where they died of neglect.
But the city residents still wanted fresh milk.
In 1980s, land was allotted to the dairymen by the government. They were to shift their animals to authorized dairy colonies. The object was to create hubs where animals could be housed together, provided with shelter, water, green feed, veterinary care etc. The location of these dairy colonies was at the periphery of the cities and, therefore, they are known as peri-urban dairies and they supply milk to individuals and to “fresh milk” companies.
Has anyone had a look at these dairies? In the last two years, we have been visiting all these peri-urban dairies and the conditions are appalling.
What fresh milk are we talking about? 
The milk which comes from these dairies is spiked with antibiotics, oxytocin, animal faeces and other contaminants. Milk is produced in an animal’s body. The fodder, water, and environmental conditions provided to the animal decide the quality of milk that will be produced.
These milk producing animals live in conditions that do not provide anything for their natural needs. There is no access to good quality drinking water, green feed, veterinary care or space to move around. Here is a description of what you will see if you bother to go to the peri-urban dairies in India, not far away from your own homes.
Cows and buffaloes are kept in dark dingy rooms with no ventilation. When a shed falls down they are kept in the rubble with no protection from the wind, sun, rains or storms.
The flooring material of these dairies is concrete, often cracked and uneven. The edges of the broken concrete are sharp. They are covered with dung and urine on which these permanently tethered animals are forced to sit and stand. Imagine yourself sitting on a sharp edged uneven floor covered with your own faeces. When given an option, milch cattle sit and lie on soft floors. Consequently, their joints are bruised and tender and most of them become painfully lame.
With dung and urine on the floor, and no fresh air, they develop diseases that range from mastitis, brucellosis (which is animal tuberculosis) to leukaemia. Mastitis is an infection of the udders, usually caused by milking with unclean and rough hands. It is strictly forbidden to draw milk from the animal when they have this condition. But milk is pulled out all the same and it contains fresh pus and fresh blood as well. Cow tails are often pulled by their owners in order to move them, and these develop wounds which develop maggots. They have to be finally amputated.
Dairy animals are provided with water only once or twice in a day. The quality of water is very poor and unpalatable. At some places, it is stored in storage tanks which have thick green deposits of algae and fungi. The same water is used for cleaning the troughs and washing milk vessels.
Cows and buffaloes are designed to eat green feed and roughage. At peri-urban dairies, they are fed with dry commercial pellets, dry fodder, stale bread, which is unfit for human consumption and a little oil cake.
Cows give milk if they are well fed, watered and exercised. Since all three inputs do not exist, their bodies have to struggle hard to produce milk. In order to get the milk, dairy owners inject them with an illegal drug called oxytocin twice a day. Oxytocin sends the animal into labour, so for two hours a day the animal is writhing in labour pains till the milk is squeezed out of her inflamed diseased teats. Oxytocin comes into the milk and results in hormonal imbalances in humans, who get diseases like tuberculosis, cancer, blindness in children etc. In fact, the single main disease-giving drug in India is oxytocin which is being smuggled into India from China by a mafia that is headquartered in Kolkata and Mumbai.
The animals in these peri-urban dairies are always sick, and antibiotics are given regularly in order to keep them alive. None of these drugs are prescribed by doctors as there are no veterinary services. They are given by illiterate workers at random so they have little value. They go into the milk and cause antibiotic resistance in milk drinkers.
As in all mammals, including humans, milk comes when a baby is born. However, male calves have no place in the peri-urban dairies. They are denied veterinary care at birth and half die on the spot. The remaining fifty percent are kept for a few weeks so that the mother gives milk as she sees them (buffaloes have strong maternal instinct and need to see their calves to let down any milk). During this time, male calves are provided very little milk. They can be seen outside any dairy, tied with short ropes waiting to be bought by the butchers.
Workers at these dairies are seasonal labourers. Most of them have no experience in handling animals. Beating with sticks, kicking and shoving are a common sight. No law says they need to be trained to work at dairies. They are not given any instructions on even washing their hands while milking or handling milk, cleaning the vessels or even bathing themselves. They give oxytocin and antibiotic injections freely to the animals with needles and syringes that are used till they rust and are washed in the same water described above. As a result, the animals have suppurating wounds at the injection sites.
If milk is an essential commodity why are these conditions so bad? The municipal corporations are responsible to ensure that the places are clean, well lit, and airy and that the sludge does not contaminate either the animals or the sewage system. But no employees ever visit the dairies.
Some states have written policies for dairies but there is no implementation. In Delhi, the municipal corporation has a policy called ‘Dairy Cattle Licensing Policy’ framed in 2010. To obtain a license, dairy owners must ensure comfortable housing which require sufficient space for milking, feeding and cleaning besides availability of floor area, space for water and adequate troughs, according to standards set by the policy. Dairy owners are responsible for the removal of dung and to ensure veterinary aid. The licenses are renewed annually, supposedly after an inspection. In actual fact, none of the dairies have obtained a license under this policy, registered their animals or reported any prevalent diseases. No one in the corporation has ever visited them.
In the central Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, there are Registration of Cattle Premises Rules, 1978. Under these rules any cattle premises with more than five head of cattle is supposed to be registered by the local authority. Rule number 4 says that ‘Every application for registration shall contain full information regarding the number and types of animals kept or to be kept, the purpose for which they are being kept or are to be kept, the provision made or to be made as respects floor space, flooring, ventilation, supply of food and water, disinfection, drainage, disposal of dung or unwanted matter, boundary walls and shall also contain such other information relevant to the matter as may be specifically called for by the registering authority.’ These rules not only ensure the welfare of animals but the quality of the milk. No city corporation has even read these rules, much less follow them.
The government funded National Dairy Research Institute in Haryana has published guidelines on milk production titled ‘National Code of Practices for Management of Dairy Animals in India’. No state government has adopted them.
The fault is yours. You, as consumers, are so disconnected from your food source that any rubbish can be fed to you with no consequences to the seller. Have you questioned your milk supplier, the milk company, the government cooperative, the municipal corporation? The companies and government cooperatives who procure milk must contribute funds as a part of their social responsibility to ensure that animals are provided with basic welfare that ensures conditions for clean milk production. With improved housing, food, veterinary care, handling and overall management practices, for milk producing animals, will come a better food product. At the moment, it is simply not safe for human consumption.

How Safe is the Chicken We Eat?

How Safe is the Chicken We Eat?
With dairy products under the scanner , the public is increasingly feeling perplexed about the other food products available in the market. Are other products safe for consumption? Is there a serious health risk involved in other consumables? If dairy products could go unchecked and unverified for years, what about other products and consumables that the public consumes on a daily basis?
One such consumable is poultry.
Kashmir being a valley of voracious meat eaters, sees huge sale in meat and poultry every year. 
Each year, Kashmir imports around 5.5 crore chickens from neighboring states of Haryana and Punjab. About 36 lakh chickens are produced locally and some 8000 youth in the state are running their own poultry farms. Yet, there are no specific rules and regulations to monitor or test these chickens for disease.
Experts have raised concerns about consumption of chickens available in the valley markets. These chickens not only have high fat content but about 80 percent of them are carriers of salmonella pathogens. A high dosage of antibiotics is injected in these chickens to increase their growth rate. Yet these clearly unhealthy chickens are being marketed at every nook and corner of the streets across Kashmir in utterly unhygienic conditions 
According to the Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Dr. Shams-ud-Din Makhdoomi, “The problem lies with the unhygienic slaughtering. Old chickens may also be contaminated with infections like Campylobacter, Salmonella and E.coli.” “Once they are consumed by humans, they become susceptible to various diseases. The prevalence rate is higher within the premises of the poultry farms where chickens are bred. Unfortunately, in our state we don’t have enough health officers to regularly inspect the market as well as the farms,” he added. 
Dr. Syed Altaf Geelani, posted at the Hariparbat Poultry farm, says that a farm owner has to follow a stringent 3-pronged protocol. “Management, Bio-security and Vaccination are the three protocols every farm owner must follow,” he said. “Though vaccination is done from time to time, management is faulty and bio-security is non-existent.”
Dr Geelani said that spurious antibiotics are readily available in the market and the farm owners feed and inject their chicken with the same thus increasing the health hazards”.
Experts assert that cattle and chicken which are raised for flesh are often kept in small dingy sheds and fed large amounts of antibiotics and drugs to keep them alive in these inhumane conditions. Only after seven weeks of birth, these chickens are loaded in trucks and transported to various slaughterhouses. The cattle also meet a similar fate. Every year, thousands of chicken have their wings and legs broken in the process. They are transported in extreme weather conditions, sometimes over hundreds of miles, without any food or water. At slaughterhouses, chickens are hung upside down and their throats are slit. They’re often scalded to death in defeathering tanks.
Most of the poultry chicken spend their entire lives in crowded filthy sheds. Intense crowding and confinement leads to outbreak of disease and infections. Adult chickens can also have trouble breathing and standing upright and can even topple forward because they’ve been bred to have abnormally large breasts.
More than 99 percent of broiler chicken carcasses sold in stores had detectable levels of E. coli, indicating fecal contamination. With food adulteration on rise, why is there still no proper testing of poultry birds and cattle? Why are there no regulation on the antibiotic dosage fed to them by the farm breeders? Is our food and Drug control department waiting for a disaster to wake up to the mess of food adulteration? These questions need to be addressed on priority basis by the officials for public interest. It is time public health was given utmost important and measures were taken to ensure what we consume is safe and healthy.
According to Dr. Shamima Bano, Health Officer, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, SMC holds an inspection drive in Srinagar for three days every week in which officials check the sanitation and hygienic conditions under which the chickens and cattle are slaughtered. However, she admits, “We don’t test them for any diseases”. 
“Testing is done by our veterinary doctors at Pantha Chowk Livestock Centre before they are sent to the markets of Srinagar City.” 
She said, presently there is no mechanism to ensure that the chickens or meat available in the markets is infection free. A long time back, it was well within the purview of Srinagar Municipal Corporation to go for a disease check but this duty has now been handed over to the Drug Department,” Dr. Shamima added
All this points out clearly to the weak links in both the supply and value chain of poultry. The various links in the chain are so weak that they are vulnerable to predatory behavior by some with clear-cut public health connotations and implications for the end consumer-the people of Kashmir. What is however not clear is whether this means criminal culpability, callous disregard for human life and welfare or just cavalier behavior on part of authorities, which is exploited by unscrupulous people. Whatever the case may be, at the end of the day, people and public health are at grave risk. 
RESPIRATORY DISEASES
Aspergillosis
Infectious Bronchitis
Quail Bronchitis
E. coli
Fowl Pox
Gapeworms
Infectious Coryza
Mycoplasmas
Newcastle Disease
Pullorum
DIGESTIVE DISEASES
Ascarid Worms
Blackhead
Capillaria
Cecal Worms
Coccidiosis
Necrotic Enteritis
Ulcerative Enteritis
E. coli
Fowl Cholera
Fowl Typhoid
Heximitiasis
Infectious Bursal Disease
Moniliasis
Pullorum
Tapeworms
SKIN AND FEATHER DISEASES
Cannibalism
Chiggers
Erysipelas
Fowl Cholera
Fowl Pox
Lice
Marek's Disease
Mites
Omphalitis
Ticks
NERVOUS DISEASES
Aspergillosis
Botulism
Cage Layer Fatigue
Fowl Cholera
Heximitiasis
Infectious Bursal Disease
Marek's Disease
Newcastle Disease
DISEASES WITH NON-CATEGORIZED SYMPTOMS
Blackhead
Botulism
Cage Layer Fatigue
Erysipelas
Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome
Fowl Cholera
Fowl Typhoid
Heximitiasis
Infectious Bursal Disease
Lymphoid Leucosis
Marek's Disease
Moniliasis
Mycotoxicosis
Omphalitis
Pullorum

Chicken on Your Plate, Au Naturale!


CHENNAI: More and more Chennaiites seem to be welcoming a newer version of an age-old item into their weekly home-cooked biryanis and curries — ‘herbal’ chicken. Outlets like ‘Saravana Mooligai Chicken’ and Kongu brand’s recent ‘Herboo Chicken’ have jumped into the market, promising to do away with artificially-enhanced chicken. Their USP? No steroids and chemicals, the chicken is bred using organic feed.
“When we opted out of artificial growth enhancers to start this brand, the chicken automatically looked and smelt much more fresh and hygienic. First-time buyers who notice this are almost always repeat customers,” says Saravana, the proprietor of Saravana Mooligai Chicken, which will soon expand to a second branch in the city at Ramapuram, thanks to the sizeable demand.
Saravanan says they feed 48 different natural herbs (turmeric, millets and so on), 36 of which aid in reducing blood-sugar levels, serving not only regular but also diabetics. In the past year alone, the outlet near Porur has seen people coming from all over the city pick up a kilo of chicken, which costs only about `50 more than the market price. “People come from as far as Thiruvottiyur and Velachery to buy our chicken,” Saravanan beams, pointing to the FSSAI certification after having tested his chicken at a Namakkal-based institute.
Since the number antibiotics and growth hormones-injected into broiler chicken has multiplied over the years, the size of the chicken making its way to our plates has increased. But so have the risks. “Growth steroids injected into poultry heads make them at least 15-20% meatier. But because of this, unnecessary antibiotic resistance is built up in our bodies after years of consuming this artificially-enhanced chicken. It makes us immune to whatever type of antibiotic is introduced in the poultry,” says Gargi Jagan, a nutrition student.
But experts opine that although ‘herbal’ chicken is a better alternative, products that claim to be 100% natural have to be taken with a pinch of salt. “We offer a facility to test poultry for steroids and chemicals, but we must keep in mind that the results we obtain only apply to the produce of that particular batch or day. This is livestock and hence there could be differences from one day’s batch to another,” explains S Thilagar, vice chancellor of TANUVAS.
He adds that regular surprise tests have to be carried out by authorities to certify products as ‘green’ and ‘organic’ right from the soil to shelf stage.
“Though the move by more poultry managers towards organic farming is positive, it is a long and rigorous process to classify produce fed to the chicken as organic. Only food managed, packaged and transported following environmentally safe processes is ‘organic’ produce,” he added.”
‘Indians Will Consume 4.7K Tonnes of Chickens on Antiobiotics’
According to a study by American researchers, by 2030, Indians will consume over 4,700 tonnes of antibiotics-infused chicken. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The same study predicted that China would be the number one consumer of antibiotics-laced chicken.

Agencies have singled us out: Khyber


Amul under scanner after woman files complaint over rancid milk being sold in Gurgaon

Gurgaon: A complaint was lodged against Amul for the low quality of milk being sold by them after which the company came on the radar of Health Department.
A raid was conducted at the Amul shop in question on Wednesday and at least 10 milk samples were collected by the officials. The samples have been sent to the lab located in Chandigarh for testing after which further probe will be conducted.
A resident of Sector 40 in Gurgaon, Pooja Walia also registered a complaint against Amul with the Civil Surgeon claiming that the milk was adulterated. She further complained to the shopkeeper that the milk was rancid.
The Civil Surgeon, Dr. Ramesh Ghankhad took prompt action in the issue and informed the Food Safety Officer Dr. EN Sharma about it who further investigated the matter. He went to the shop and took 10 milk samples after the complaint of the woman.
Since there is no Food Safety Officer in the district, a Rewari official has being appointed to further probe the matter. Following the unavailability of an officer even routine inquiries in context with perishable consumable items being sold in the district have to suffer.
Meanwhile, people involved in adulterating the consumable items take advantage of the situation and do not even test the samples.

ImPoisonImKhyber| Killing:he corporate ruled newsrooms in Kashmir

 Srinagar: Nazir Ganie
 Five killed, two injured, three killed, five injured, sometime militants, sometime forces and sometime civilians fill up the numbers. The numbers of death continue to toll up in this Himalayan region. And, this is what you read or even hear about Kashmir from the journalists from the region. However, in the region where corporate media houses are nascent, the indictment of a milk major in a food adulteration scam and its coverage in the newspapers clearly shows that news has become a bigger “casualty” these days.
 Newsrooms are abuzz with the local disgraced firm– Khyber Agro Farms Ltd– found of “poisoning” Kashmir with its adulterated milk. Relevant tests have found harmful substances like detergents in the milk that over the past decade had become a popular choice for the masses. But the local media chose to shove the pressing public issue under the rugs. And, understandably so in this age of digital information overload, an outraged people have resorted to social networking sites to express their anger.
 While some newspapers had earlier launched a scathing attack on the government for failing to provide safe and hygienic food, without mentioning any company, to the people, the court judgment against a big corporate house for selling contaminated milk didn’t make it to the newspapers. Interestingly, many other newspapers have come out to boost about their special supplements about vital public issues, including health. Importantly, a local court has convicted Khyber Agro Farms for selling substandard, unsafe and misbranded food to the customers across Jammu and Kashmir. Chief Judicial Magistrate in Central Kashmir’s Budgam imposed a fine of 900 hundred thousand Indian rupees ($USD 13637) on the fallen firm and six-month imprisonment to the accused company through its nominated officer. The directions were passed after sample of toned milk (Khyber brand) collected by Food Safety Officer, Zeenat Ayoub, turned out to be substandard after analysis. 
However, ironically while this was the news for some handful of outside-Kashmir-based newspapers including, The Indian Express, The Tribune among others, the local media, especially some prominent local newspapers including, Greater Kashmir, Rising Kashmir, Kashmir Reader completely ignored the news. It wasn’t a story for them. Read About Tulips You could read about how many tulips are in bloom at Asia’s largest Tulip Garden in Srinagar, you could also read about the number of tourists flocking to Kashmir, you could also read about some or many trivial issues in the mainstream media in the region, but not about a company which was found poisoning Kashmir people by supplying highly contaminated dairy products.
 The stories of public importance, including this, were ignored, stalled and killed. “What if local newspapers didn’t carry stories of adulteration in Khyber Milk because Khyber’s advertisements are important for them than lives of common people,” said senior national award-wining photojournalist of China based Xinua, Javed Dar. “We as responsible citizens and we should launch a campaign against Khyber on social networking sites so that they get exposed and common people get awareness about their packaged poison,” he said. Dar immediately took to social networking site, Facebook, sharing his views about Khyber and its malpractices with a hash-tag‪#‎ImPoisonImKhyber.
 The other netizens, following the trend, shared their views on the development and also lashed out at the local media for the compete blackout of the public importance news stories. “Detergents are added to milk to increase the shelf life and it is a common practice with all milk plants. So why to single out Khyber? Spurious drugs, substandard food items, etc. manufactured/imported to kill people slowly and silently particularly in Kashmir is the outcome of materialistic race devoid of human values,” a netizen said.
 “No difference between Sadam Hussain and Khyber Tramboos. The former killed Kurds by poisoning them with harmful gases, and the latter are doing same with Kashmir people,” Javaid Trali, who works in ruling People Democratic Party’s media cell, said. “With due respect, most of the newspaper owners and editors, in Kashmir, are businessmen. No matter, we have extremely brilliant and honest reporters here. But, they are helpless. They can’t help. Businessmen have their own interests to settle. Let Kashmiris die,” he said. He also took on Facebook, to express his anger,‪ #‎KhyberWarOnKashmiris.
 Chief Judicial Magistrate, Budgam, Mr Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone directed the Commissioner Food and Safety Act to take immediate steps in ensuring that the company (Khyber Agro) products are closed or taken off from the market unless Referral Laboratory Kolkata declares that the product of the convicted company are safe to consume and products manufactured by the convicted company do not harm the nation as is proved by the medical report submitted by the SK Institute of Medical Sciences in region’s summer capital.
 The Magistrate said it is the reason that ratio of cancer patients is increasing in valley and reasons for such diseases as disclosed by various newspapers as well as the medical research conducted by consuming adulterated food. The analysis conducted by a Referral Food Laboratory in Kolkata confirms the samples as substandard. The analysis report shows presence of detergent in the milk and also shows the milk fat lower than the prescribed limit. According to the report, it also contravenes Food Safety and standards (packaging and labelling) Regulations for not mentioning best before date and symbol of veg. Food on the label.
 The report submitted shows that the sample is sub-standard and mis-branded under rules. The court held the company guilty and convicted through its in-charge operations nominated person Mohammad Shafi Ganie and was convicted under sections 51, 52 and 59 of FSS Act -2006 943 of 2006). Under this act fine of rupees 5 lac was imposed for selling sub-standard food, Rs 3 lac for mis-branded item and Rs 1 lakh for selling unsafe food besides six months of imprisonment to the accused company through nominated person.
 The magistrate in Budgam said this was not the first case where it has come to the surface that the milk product manufactured by the accused company contains detergent urea and other dangerous chemicals not only in milk but other edible products. “I feel pained to describe how our society has been subjected to a silent injury by permitting convicted company to earn profits at the cost of lives of the nation. Only God knows how many people might have died by consuming detergents in the Khyber toned milk,” Justice Imtiaz Ahmad Lone said in a court judgement. Worker fill milk into a processing machine in a milk plant in Kashmir.
 After local newspapers boycotted the news of the tainted company, there was an outcry on social networking sites like, Facebook, Twitter, Integram, among others. The bloggers came out heavily criticising the company and the role of newspapers editors in blocking the news to the readers. “Khyber pays a good amount of money to local newspapers. Why would they (newspapers, with some exceptions) publish the news story…And my teachers were teaching me about ethics in journalism yesterday,” said a journalism teacher, Ishfaq Ahmad Shah.
 “It’s time to nail them,” Farhad Naik updated on Facebook. “This is not the first time that Khyber Milk has been found adulterated with dangerous chemicals including detergents and urea. But given that the product is manufactured and marketed by a very rich and influential business house – so far the government and its concerned agencies have done precious little to tame the beast. Instead the rules and laws have always been subverted to help the culprits,” he said. He shared the editorial of his newspaper, Kashmir Images, on its second day, which said “In this dirty game of “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” which has been going on unabated between the Khyber people and senior government functionaries here, it is the life and health of the ordinary people which had been dangerously compromised and put in sure harm’s way.”
 “Basically there can’t be worse indictment of the official complicity and patronage as far as food adulteration is concerned. Now that the judge has belled the cat, it is time for the government to do its bit. Just because someone is rich and powerful does not mean that he/she/they could play with the lives of the ordinary people and get away with it. Nor does it mean much to grow long beards to feign piety when in reality our actions are evil, mischievous and anti-people!” The newspaper industry, which is witnessing a downfall elsewhere, is flourishing in Jammu and Kashmir with more and more youngsters coming forward with their new registered titles (newspapers).
 According to J&K Department of Information, around over 200 newspapers in different languages hit the stands every morning in Srinagar, while as the winter capital, Jammu too has over 200 newspapers coming out daily. This is in addition to hundreds of 200 weekly newspapers and some one hundred fortnightly and monthly publications. A worker fills milk into a processing machine in a milk plant in Kashmir.
 “A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself,” Arthur Miller said in 1961. Undoubtedly, Kashmir has produced journalists o repute, who have proved their mettle on the international arena. While being at their best, newspapers have been holding governments to account. They usually set the news agenda for the rest of the media. But keeping a lid on a vital public importance issues, including food adulteration by this company has raised serious concerns on the ethics of journalism in Kashmir.
 Authint Mail, a New Delhi based online portal, broke the story in 2013 about milk contamination by Khyber. During that period also, the local media, especially newspapers didn’t carry any news story on the issue. Ironically days after the news broke out, the whistle blower Srinagar Municipal Corporation Health Officer, Dr Shafqat Khan was shunted out from his post and transferred to south Kashmir.
 The civic body officer was one of the main officials who had given details about the food adulteration to the media. The government said that it is mulling to close or take off the products of Khyber Agro Farms Company from the market till the Referral Laboratory in Kolkata declares the product (milk) of the company safe for consumption. Secretary Health and Medical Education Dr M.K. Bhandari said that that they have been examining the court judgment and the directions of the court will be implemented in letter and spirit.
 “Within a day or two we will initiate action against the accused company. Either we will close the company or its product will be taken off from the market. A decision in this regard will be taken within a day or two,” Bhandari said. He added that government is bound to follow the directions of the court.

Khayber Expose may blow your mind

The surprising truth about the Khyber may land you in shock
Everything you need to know about adultration of Khyber milk. We got for you
Hoardings In Srinagar
Everyone wants to know WHY?
Kashmir gets poisoned milk by their own people: Why
Administration can’t save Kashmir from dangerous food items: Why
If a company us convicted for adulterating milk, the story is absent from the top papers: Why
SMC is unable to take down the Hoardings: Why
Khyber manufacturing products are still in market: Why
Khyber products should not be available for HUMANS only: Why
Convicts are roaming freely including some officials supporting the company: Why
Despite the company found guilty earlier, they continue marketing: Why
Advertisements continuously flash on TV channels: Why
By Beigh Irshad || Valley Online
SRINAGAR: As valley’s leading milk producing company, Khyber group is in headlines from last few days due to it’s sub-standard, un-safe and mis- branded milk products.
The news about Khyber group was almost buried by the local press here. Almost all the leading newspapers whose lofty slogans claiming to be the bold voices of Kashmir silently buried the news even the advertisements of Khyber were continuously being published in the news papers.
It was only possible by social media where the news got fire and was highlighted by criticism on local News Papers and their owners.
Youths poured out their anger against the newspapers and taunted them on social networking sites with headings like ‘Khyber supplying poison instead of milk’, ‘Kashmir’s killed by Kashmiri’ and much more.
“Through its milk product, Khyber poisons Kashmir and then treats them at their hospital (Khyber Hospital) a social media user posted on Facebook.
Printer and Publisher Greater Kashmir did not know why that story was not carried because he was not in town, Editor-in-Chief Rising Kashmir too was out of town and knew nothing about it, and Editor-In-chief Kashmir Reader said they did not carry the news because only one brand was being targeted and declared as unsafe, while quoting them a local journalist filed a story on Khyber in The Hoot (http://www.thehoot.org/media-watch/regional-media/kashmirs-cronyism-means-a-news-blackout-9277).
“We thought it is someone’s conspiracy to discredit the brand and company (Khyber). Why are samples of other brands not being checked?
There are spice companies who don’t follow set criteria but no action is being taken against them,” Editor-In-Chief Kashmir Reader said.
Despite court directions, adulterated milk is being sold boldly and openly in the market in connivance with those employed to check and seize it, thus playing with the health and lives of people.
According to the J&K government’s an order and direction to stop the marketing of milk and all milk products manufactured by Khyber Agro Farms till further directions products are available in several shops across Kashmir Valley.
Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) also demanded strict enforcement of ban on sale of Khyber milk.
“Virtually every cup of tea grownups have been taking for years and every ounce of milk infants have been brought up on was actually a deadly cocktail of detergents and hazardous substances,” the DAK president said.
The Health and Medical Education Department, in its order No HD/Legal/Drug/MR-56/2016 dated 06-04-2016 ordered that no milk or milk product of the company be available for human consumption till these products are declared safe by a referral laboratory in Kolkata.
Government took three days in removing the Khyber Dairy products even after the strict directions from the Court in J&K and the hoardings of Khyber Company are Still found in every nook and corner of Srinagar city.
Commissioner Srinagar Municipal Corporation Bashir Ahmed Khan said that the Corporation is bound to remove these misleading hoardings. “I am out of station and once I will reach Srinagar, all these hoardings will be removed,” he said.
If years back Khyber Agro Farms Private Limited was found guilty of selling sub- stranded, mis-branded and unsafe milk but it was again sell in market without any fear and care. This time again the sample was found “sub-standard, un-safe and mis- branded” by a Kolkata laboratory.
The Judicial Magistrate in his judgment noted similar instances earlier and said that the milk manufactured by Khyber contains “detergent, urea and other dangerous chemicals not only in milk but other edible products.”
“The accused company is facing similar cases before various courts, therefore, the presumption of innocence in favour of the accused company is ruled out,” the judge said.
The Judicial Magistrate also sentenced the convicted company’s head of operations to six months imprisonment for violating various sections of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Rs 9 lakh as fine.
The court also criticised the Food Analyst for not discharging his duties and ordered his removal.
“Either Hamidullah Dar (Food Analyst Kashmir) is incapable to conduct the test and discharge his duties to the expectations of his assignment and job Or he is dishonest to his job,” the court remarked in the judgment.
Dar was termed as a deadwood and cancer for the nation by court.
On its part, Khyber Agro Farms Managing Director Abdur Rouf Tramboo said he would not comment now. “We will soon clarify our stand.
We will see what the law allows us to comment because the case is in the court,” he said.
“As court has already had taken a serious note of the manner of conduct of the two officers and put on record appreciation for Zeenat Ayoub, Food Safety Officer and the . of the case but their should be an award for them” a respectable citizen has uploaded this status on social media.

DAK demands death penalty for food adulterators

Srinagar 
Amid deepening public concerns over food safety following a wave of recent food adulteration, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today demanded capital punishment for those involved in contamination of eatables. Describing food adulteration as a crime against humanity, President DAK Nisar ul Hassan said death penality will act as a powerful deterrent and will curb the menace of food adulteration. 
This provision of exemplary punishment should be inserted into the food act to discourage those who are responsible for food adulteration which is causing loss of precious human lives. The current food safety and standards act has provisions for a maximum punishment of life imprisonment for those involved in manufacture and sale of unsafe foods. 
The DAK president said there are growing voices in favor of death sentence to weed out this heinous crime which is perilous to human life and health. In 2009, two persons were executed in China for tainting milk powder with melamine, an industrial chemical. Dr Hassan said two years before that, China executed head of Food and Drug administration for accepting bribes to allow untested drugs to be approved for marketing. 
Adulteration of food which was unheard in past has now become a way of life in Kashmir.This dangerous malpractice is responsible for rise in cancers and deaths in the valley, he said. Recent expose of contaminated milk and spices of two leading corporate houses has shaken the confidence of common man and no deterrent punishment was meted out. 
There is hardly any pure item in the market which is grossly unchecked and unregulated, he said adding those who are employed to control the menace and prosecute criminals are in active connivance with them and are involved in the complicity of this grave crime. 
The inordinate delay in disposable of court cases has becom,a tool for perpetrators to wriggle out the legal proceedings.