FSSAI junks reports, says milk safe

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 18

Apex food regulator today rejected perceptions of widespread milk adulteration and said milk being produced and sold was largely safe. Over 93% samples tested by the National Milk Safety and Quality Survey 2018 have come up “absolutely safe”.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)’s Milk Safety Survey found 12 of 6,432 samples of milk adulterated, rendering milk unsafe for consumption. Six samples were found adulterated with hydrogen peroxide, three with detergents, two with urea and one with neutralisers. Of the 12 adulterated samples, nine were in Telangana, two in Madhya Pradesh and one in Kerala.

“The survey dispels the feeling of liquid milk in India being largely adulterated,” said FSSAI experts. About ammonium sulphate presence in milk, all stakeholders concluded it was not a contaminant, as earlier thought, but an allowed additive in certain food in several countries.

Though the study shows that above 93% of all samples (5,976 of 6,432) were safe, it acknowledges that 41% samples, though safe, fell short of one or another quality parameter. Both raw and processed samples were found non-compliant on account of low fat or low solid not-fat (SNF), or both. Surprising finding included presence of Maltodextrin in 156 and sugar in 78 of the total samples. “These elements don’t represent a threat to human health, but stringent action is required to curb the wrong practices,” say findings.

The survey, done from May 2018 to October 2018 covering all states and UTs, drew samples from 1,103 cities with population above 50,000.