Govt to trace contaminated milk samples to their origin

Food Safety Authorities To Test Milk From 140 Production Units

Chennai:Milk samples that tested positive for cancer-causing aflatoxin M1in a national survey by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will be traced to the origin – cow sheds where fodder could have been contaminated, state food safety authorities said.They will also test samples of milk from all 140 manufacturing units in the state.

A report on the 88 samples that tested positive for the carcinogen in tests done at Hyderabad-based VIMTA labs was sent to the food safety department on Tuesday. As per the survey released last month, the samples were all picked from retail outlets, including milk booths, chilling units, local vendors and supermarkets. Earlier, the state had requested the Centre to give it a list with details of locations from where the samples were picked up. Food safety officials refused to release the details of the brands from the survey report, but said they were doing a larger study to check milk quality. “Aflatoxin enters cattle’s body only through fodder,” said food safety deputy director K Vanaja. Poorly maintained cattle sheds where fodder is not frequently replaced or kept dry may cause fungus growth. “When fodder gets contaminated with aflatoxin, it is passed on to the milk. Aflatoxin contamination can’t happen at retail units. So even if samples collected from retail units have traces, we have to source it back to the manufacturing units,”said a senior government food analyst.

State health secretary Beela Rajesh, also the food safety commissioner, said the government will test quality of milk sold on a priority basis. In the past one week, district food safety authorities collected samples from across 140 milk manufacturing units. The samples collected till Wednesday will be sent to the private National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for testing. The results are expected in 10 days. “We will use the results to push for good manufacturing practices in these units,” a senior official said.

Officials will use data from the national report to trace samples picked from retail units back to the manufacturing units. As of now, cost per sample will be borne by the manufacturers as they have to submit a detailed report of milk quality once every six months,officials said. In October, nearly 60% of the milk samples lifted from Chennai and its neighbourhood tested as part of the National Milk Safety andQuality Survey, 2018, was found “noncompliant”. As a part of the survey, more than 6,432 samples, including 551 from Tamil Nadu, were tested between May 2018 and October 2018 across all states and UTs. The report said 51% of the milk samples in TN were non compliant, compared to 41% of all-India standards. Nearly 88 samples from the state tested positive for aflatoxin M1. “Alfatoxin contamination is dangerous because pasteurization and sterilisation of milk have little effect on it and thus as waste product, it remains in the milk,” said a senior government food analyst. Among the 44 samples from Chennai, two tested positive for the carcinogen (above 0.5micrograms/kg) and 26 others were deemed non-compliant. In the surrounding areas, one out of four samples each in Puzhuthivakkam and Maraimalainagar were found to have aflatoxin.

Senior oncologists said aflatoxin is one of the common causes of liver cancer. “When ingested, it gets concentrated in the liver and triggers growth of cancer cells,” said surgical gastroenterologist Dr R Surendran of MIOT Hospital.