Leave milk out of draft rules, panel tells FSSAI

‘It cannot be clubbed with other agri products given its perishable nature’

NEW DELHI, JULY 22: 

The fear of an ‘inspector raj’ created by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) clearly has the Centre worried.

After Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal articulated the concern earlier this month, an inter-ministerial committee met with FSSAI officials here on Monday seeking exemption for dairy products.

Sources in the Agriculture Ministry told BusinessLine that the committee has suggested that milk and other dairy items not be clubbed with other commodities in the Draft Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulation, 2015. It also suggested bringing back the Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992, (MMPO) that had been repealed in 2011.

“The committee said there needs to be a different regulation for milk and it cannot be clubbed with other agricultural commodities like corn and wheat given its perishable nature. The process of procurement, collection and processing is completely different,” a senior official said. “It was also suggested that the MMPO be treated as a separate regulation under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSSA). The order had shown good results with respect to milk standards and safety before it was repealed,” he added.

Those in the know pointed out that the MMPO had created a network of Milk Commissioners who were present in each State and worked closely with milk federations. Between them, these officials had decades of experience regarding the sector and quality control, but were made redundant after the order was repealed.

The draft regulations, issued on June 5, introduce a stringent permissible limit of 0.02 ppm for lead in milk, secondary milk products and infant formula. Objections and suggestions are to be conveyed to the FSSAI by August 24. Currently, the regulator prescribes a limit of 0.1 ppm of arsenic in milk and imposes ceilings on a range of crop contaminants like insecticides. It also prescribes limits for lead, copper, tin, zinc and cadmium, for infant milk substitutes.

Arbitrary change

While the move has been welcomed by analysts in the aftermath of the Maggi fiasco, the unpredictable manner of introducing amendments in regulations and methods of testing has the food industry concerned.

“Take the Mother Dairy case: the agency’s way of testing it was completely incorrect, and an apology was issued in four days,” the official added.