Maharashtra: Milk that you drink may have starch in it

FDA finds out normal water is passed off as mineral water

The mineral water and milk that you drink may not be pure and up to the mandated standards of quality.

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has detected cases of normal water being chilled and sold as mineral water to unsuspecting customers. It has also blown the lid off cases in which water and starch were used to adulterate milk in Mumbai.

In a written reply to a question by Ramesh Kadam (NCP-Mohol) and others in the state legislative assembly on Wednesday, FDA minister Girish Bapat admitted that some units were bottling packaged water without necessary permissions.

Action was taken against three establishments at Mohol in Solapur after it was found that they were chilling normal water and selling it off as mineral water. Raids on seven such manufacturers in Kolhapur district led to 9,810 litres of water worth over Rs1.21 lakh being seized as the samples of this water indicated it was not potable.

Raids have been conducted on four establishments at Khed and Shirur in Pune for manufacturing packaged drinking water without permissions and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) licenses. Action has been initiated against them. Inquiries have been conducted against the units at Mohol and Kolhapur and these 10 establishments have been served with prohibitory orders. Action is being taken under the relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

In another written reply to a question by DP Sawant (Congress-Nanded city) and others in the assembly, Bapat said during the FDA's campaign against milk adulteration in the Mumbai division, 10 samples were taken from three places. Of these, seven samples were found to be adulterated with prohibited quality water and the perpetrators were nabbed red-handed. This led to FIRs being lodged in two cases. In the other case, the remaining three samples were found to be adulterated with starch. Court cases are being lodged in this regard after investigations.

All 12 samples of milk collected from the Thane division and the 30 samples of milk and milk products from Sangli district were found to meet the necessary standards.

The FDA seized 931.5 liters of milk in Mumbai in May this year and also conducted a drive against milk adulteration in Thane, Satara and Sangli districts.