Hyderabad: Milk adulteration going unchecked

Hyderabad: The police and government agencies have been cracking down on units selling or manufacturing adulterated foodstuff but there is less focus on units selling adulterated milk. Every day, units selling food products such as masala and edible oil are raided. Police say that there are ongoing raids on all types of adulteration, even though it is not their duty to check adulteration.

“There are other agencies like health department, food safety wings to check adulteration issues, but they do not have the powers to arrest or prosecute the violators. The maximum they can do is collect samples and if found guilty, seize the unit or cancel the licence,” a police officer said. The police can book offenders under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, as adulteration is a clear case of cheating the public.

“They can be arrested and if they are found to be repeatedly involved in adulteration issues, their properties can be seized and they can also be detained under the PD Act,” said another official. At the moment the major focus is on seed adulteration, as this is the crop season and adulterated seeds or pesticides with expired dates are sold to farmers causing huge losses. “The priorities change from season to season. But adulteration of commodities like milk, spices, turmeric, edible oils, ghee, masalas, fruit juices is under constant surveillance,” an official said.

Adulteration of milk is an increasingly worrying issue as owners of dairies trying to increase milk production and sales resort to various unscrupulous methods, such as injecting cattle with banned hormones like oxytocin,  storing milk in unhygienic conditions, adding toxic additives to preserve milk longer or make it look thicker, all of which are causing public health hazards.