Food Adulteration at its peak in India

Sad Day for India especially to the Growing Kids after the Food Agency Corp has announced that the Milk supplied in India isn't pure. They are either diluted or contaminated. 

Long before the Food Safety Standards Authority of India undertook its recent nationwide survey to study the level of adulteration in milk, milkmen across the country have been routinely mixing milk with generous doses of water (its purity levels notwithstanding) before delivering it at our doorsteps. 

In that sense, the issue of milk adulteration is perhaps as old as the human habit of consuming milk itself. But the dilution of milk with water is one thing; adding harmful chemicals to it that can lead to an array of diseases and health conditions is another. This explains the public furore over the FSSAI’s National Survey on Milk Adulteration 2011 which has revealed that a dangerous assortment of adulterants, including fat, solid-not-fat (SNF), neutralisers, acids, hydrogen peroxide, sugar, starch, glucose, urea, salt, skimmed milk powder, formalin, vegetable fat and even detergent were found in milk samples across the country.

In fact, not only loose samples of milk produced and distributed by the unorganised sector but also samples of store-bought, branded milk were found to contain traces of adulterants. This has comes as a rude shock to consumers who have always believed that branded milk, even though more expensive, would at least be free of adulteration. Expectedly, over the past few days major dairy brands have gone into damage-control mode but that has done little to quell consumer fears.

The Government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the issue has only made matters worse. Not only has the Government woefully failed to monitor the safe production and distribution of an essential commodity like milk, it has also not cared to put on even a charade of concern since the publication of the report. Hence, there is little reason to believe that there will be any appreciable change in the quality of the milk we consume.

Remember how nothing happened in 2010 after the Navi Mumbai Police busted an adulteration racket in which sealed milk packets were injected with contaminants and then sold primarily in rural areas. Indeed, it is with regard to such indifferent attitude of the authorities that the consumers have the most to worry about. A similarly callous disregard by Government officials had recently claimed 125 lives in West Bengal, when victims consumed adulterated alcohol sold from an outlet that had been allowed to operate despite its dubious credentials.

Perhaps, then, it is not surprising that all the milk samples taken from that State, along with those collected from other States ,were found to be contaminated. However, the fact that even the more developed States, including the national capital, did only nominally ‘better’ — with Delhi reporting a contamination in 70 per cent of the samples that were collected — underlines the gravity of the issue and the need for the Government to act.