New rules to make milk safe

Hyderabad: The Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) set out new regulations in 2017 to ensure quality standards for milk and milk products. Despite a regulatory policy in place, there are still instances where milk is adulterated and sold.

The detection of such scams is paramount as dairy owners or scamsters often inject cattle with drugs or dilute milk using substandard milk powder, water or sometimes urea, to earn an extra buck. The effects of such practices on consumers of this adulterated milk are perceptible, especially among young children.

Recently, the Special Operations Team (SOT) of Malkajgiri arrested one Shekar Rao while he was selling adulterated milk on the roadside. Another six members were arrested in connection with the incident and handed over to the Bibinagar police for further investigation.

The accused had set up well-orchestrated operation of selling hazardous adulterated milk to the public. The milk was adulterated with water after removing the cream, adding milk powder and churning the milk in a machine. In order to make the milk frothy, Surf, a detergent, was added to the mixture.

The milk was then filled in big cans and sold to hotels and the public. Officials claim that they caught the milk when it was being transported in vehicles.

It also came to light that the gang was injecting a drug called oxytocin to the cows. This drug works to make the cows provide more milk than normal but can lead to a number of health concerns among consumers.

Malkajgiri SOT inspector Naveen Kumar, said Shekar Rao did not repackage the milk and maintained the selling price at '47 per litre to ensure that no one suspected him. 

“As it was coming from the outskirts of the city, it could have been easily passed off as healthy milk.”

He said the police was quick in taking action once they were tipped off. “It is very important to reach out to the police and lodge a complaint if there are suspicions of milk adulteration,” Mr Naveen Kumar said.