Milk contamination: samples sent to lab for testing

Vehicle that delayed supply of milk removed from service

A day after residents in a few parts of the city complained of contaminated milk packets supplied by Aavin, officials of the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department took samples of the milk and sent them for microbiological test here on Friday.

Residents in Bretts Road, MDS Nagar, Shevapet and Ponammapet complained of oil odour and spoilt milk on Thursday. They had purchased 250 ml and 500 ml packets of milk from retail shops in their respective areas. A four-year-old child developed vomiting and was treated as an outpatient at a private hospital. As the news spread, panic prevailed among the residents and they stopped consuming the milk. On Friday, officials of the food safety department took samples of the milk that were stored by the residents in refrigerators and sent for laboratory test. It was found that the milk supplied by a vehicle to agents on Thursday in these areas were unfit for consumption.

When contact, managing director of Salem District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Aavin) K. Santhi told The Hindu that the private vehicle contractor has parked the vehicle in direct sunlight for two hours to carryout his personal work and delayed the despatch of milk to agents. She clarified that the acidity level had gone up in the milk packets making it unfit for consumption. The vehicle was removed from service and milk was supplied through another vehicle on Friday. Quality controllers and marketing officials had met the residents and distributed 600 litres of fresh milk on Friday, she added. Salem Aavin procures about 5.25 lakh litres of milk everyday through the cooperative societies in which 1.90 lakh litres were distributed in Salem and Namakkal districts everyday. About two lakh litres were sent to Chennai everyday while the remaining 1.35 lakh litres were used for producing khoa , milk powder and milk sweets.