Mother Diary to sell only fortified milk for better nutrition

As part of its effort to address malnutrition, the capital’s leading milk supplier, Mother Dairy, will only sell milk fortified with Vitamin A and D.

The dairy company sells about 30 lakh litres of milk each day, including token and poly-packed milk, through about 800 milk booths and 400 ‘Safal’ retail stores in Delhi, NCR region.

By the end of this year, it will switch to selling only fortified milk, the company said. “We are already adding Vitamin A in our token milk sold at milk booths. Now, we have decided to add Vitamin A and D in both poly-packed and token milk,” Mr S Nagarajan told a news agency.

He said the company is taking this initiative as a large part of the city population faces deficiency of micro-nutrients.

According to Mr Nagarajan, the fortification of milk with Vitamin A and D would cost around 25 paise per litre. However, the company is not looking to increase the milk prices. He said the company will follow the standards fixed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on fortification of food. The FSSAI has developed comprehensive standards for fortification in wheat flour, rice, edible oil, salt, and milk. As per these standards, fortification of salt can be done with iodine and iron, while vegetable oil and milk can be fortified with Vitamin A and D; wheat flour and rice with iron, folic acid, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin A, and some other micro-nutrients.

Mother Dairy was commissioned in 1974 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board. The company sells milk and dairy products including ice creams, paneer, and ghee under the ‘Mother Dairy’ brand. It is into edible oil business under Dhara brand. Moreover, it sells frozen vegetables, unpolished pulses, and other processed foods under the ‘Safal’ brand.