Milk adulteration scenario in the
district is mired in cover-ups, inaction by the administration and greed. Even
as almost 50 per cent of the milk coming from commercial dairies, most of which
are situated at the Jamsher Dairy Complex, in Jalandhar is said to be
adulterated, the number of samples failing in the district is mysteriously low,
because inside sources say the guilty are often let off the hook. Half of the
milk coming from dairies in Jamsher, Bulandpur, Sekhe village and Nala village
is said to be adulterated. Water, skimmed milk powder, ararot powder (starch), refined
oil, urea, etc., are commonly mixed with the milk. On an average, 300 dairies
of the Jamsher Dairy Complex have a yield of 12,000 quintal milk per day, half
of which, sources say, is adulterated. Cattle are also commonly injected with
the banned ‘oxytocin’ injections to boost the yield of the milk. The milk from
about 250 to 300 cooperative societies in the district is said to be relatively
safer because the inherent checks in these are stringent. Of the 101 samples
taken in the district in the past three years (2010 to 2012), 37 have failed. Of
the total 20 milk samples taken from both urban and rural milk vendors by the
Health Department in 2012 (January to September), five have failed. Of the five
milk samples taken from milk vendors in August alone, two have failed. In 2011,
the Health Department took a total of 62 milk samples, out of which 22 failed. In
2010 (between March 15, 2010, and August 18, 2010), 19 samples were taken by the
health and dairy development board food inspectors, out of which 10 failed. As
many as nine of these milk vendors (seven from Jamsher Dairy Complex and the
rest from the city) were taken to court by the Dairy Development Board after
their samples failed. The sources say the law was later tweaked to facilitate
the dairy owners. “A complaint was registered against the erring milk vendors
by food inspectors of the Health and Dairy Departments in the Sessions Court in
2010, but ironically, some dairy owners got their samples rechecked later and
they were mysteriously declared passed. Currently, a case is on against only
one of the said milk vendors, while the rest were let off,” said an official. While
the Health Department has been operating as per the Food Safety Standard Act (FSSA),
2006, (implemented in Punjab in August 2011), before the implementation of the
FSSA, the Dairy Department was working in tandem with the Health Department
under the Food Adulteration Act, 1954. Confirming this, Deputy Director, Dairies,
Surinder Pal Singh, said: “After the implementation of the FSSA, our department
is no more authorised to check dairy samples. It is now directly under the
purview of the Health Department.” Sources say since the implementation of the
FSSA, the law is being soft on offenders and most samples which are even unfit
for human consumption are let off by being labeled merely substandard. Blaming
the Health Department-dairy owners’ nexus for rampant milk adulteration in the
district, the sources say under the FSSA, the DC or the SDM delegates a food
inspector to look into the matter and offenders are simply challaned even when
they should be taken to court.
Fact file
- Of the 101 samples taken in the
district in the past three years (2010 to 2012), 37 have failed.
- Of the total 20 milk samples
taken from both urban and rural milk vendors by the Health Department in 2012 (January
to September), five have failed.
- Of the five milk samples taken
from milk vendors in August alone, two have failed.
- In 2011, the Health Department
took a total of 62 milk samples, out of which 22 failed.
- In 2010 (between March 15, 2010,
and August 18, 2010), 19 samples were taken by health and dairy development
board food inspectors, out of which 10 failed.
