Test before you taste milk and khoya

ALLAHABAD: The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) department is poised to educate and spread awareness among masses regarding purity of food and milk products during festivals like the forthcoming Diwali and on the other hand, an instant kit to determine purity of milk has become popular in KAVAL cities. An instant impurity detection kit is helping consumers in various cities check adulteration in 'khoya' and sweets. These kits are helpful and quick compared to laboratory tests which take days to confirm if sample is adulterated.
Food safety officials are promoting consumers to use the kits or other time-tested methods to detect on the spot if the khoya or mithai has impurities. But, since these kits use solutions such as tincture of iodine and sulphuric acid, other traditional methods are also being employed.
"A few drops of tincture of iodine can test the quality of khoya. If it turns bluish, it is adulterated. Sulphuric acid also rule out adulteration," said an official.Adulteration causes serious risk to human health. Presence of harmful starch, urea mixed milk, caustic soda, 'ararot', artificial sweetening chemicals, non-approved colored sweets (like heavy metals incorporated malachite green, etc) and unhygienic conditions lead to acute gastritis, serious diarrhoea, dysentery, dehydration, kidney inflammation, etc.
Apart from constituting teams for conducting raids on specific locations, the department has also planned to set up a helpline to provide information and teach methods to detect adulteration in food products. Chief Food Safety Officer, HK Srivastava told TOI "We are ready to apprise people about the benefits of home remedies to detect adulteration in food products. Besides, there is a plan in place to conduct surprise raids at sweet shops, godowns and manufacturing units from where samples will be collected and sent to the Public Analysis Lab, Lucknow and Regional Public Analysis, Varanasi for tests.
The state government had formed FDA (Food & Drug Administration) to check cases of adulteration but public participation and coordination is must to eradicate the menace. "Everyone should be alert while purchasing food and milk products and he or she should also be aware of the homely tips to check adulteration," said Srivastava. He added that public awareness was must to deal with the situation and people should come forward to know simple measures/techniques to detect adulteration. A team of 12 food inspectors are working round-the-clock to detect cases of adulteration in the district.
If anyone wants to complain against food/milk adulterated product, he or she may contact office of the FDA and food inspectors would help them out.
FDA officials have launched a special drive to apprise people about simple measures to detect adulteration at home or take professional assistance if required. The officials of FDA are also gearing up to initiate actions under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (1954) against errant shop owners. "Public generally is not optimally aware about adulteration and the ways in which items of consumption are laced with harmful additives, either to enhance its shelf-life or to give it more volume," said an official.