Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Sterner laws to curb adulteration of milk

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State government is planning to bring in sterner laws to curb adulteration and sale of unhygienic milk, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies C. Divakaran who is also in charge of the Animal Husbandry Department has said.

Mr. Divakaran told The-Hindu here on Sunday that the government would amend the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act so that sterner punishments could be imposed. “I have asked the Law Department to examine the issue in detail and come up with suggestions. Since the food adulteration Act is a Central legislation, we will have to find out which are the provisions that the States can amend. Maybe, we will have to get the assent of the President for the amended provisions.”

Nearly 60 private brands of milk were being sold in the State, Mr. Divakaran said. Several of them were from the neighbouring States. At present, punitive action against the offenders was minimal.

The brands were usually banned for two weeks from the State market and no steps were initiated to prosecute the producers. It was often seen that after the ban period ended, the brand reappeared in the market under a different name. “We should not only be able to ban the inferior brands from the market for longer periods but also prosecute the owners,” he said.

Sanjeeb Patjoshi, Managing Director of the State’s milk cooperative Milma, said the most common complaint against milk supplied by the private sector was that the levels of fat and solid non-fat (SNF) in it did not match those printed on the pouches.

There were also reports of high bacterial contents in the packed milk. Since private operators did not have cold chains, the milk supplied by them often got damaged quickly. Some private milk producers used soya milk and water to enhance the quantity of milk. There were also complaints of some private dairy operators giving the hormone oxytocin to the cattle. This hormone can cause cancer when it reaches human beings through milk.

Mr. Joshi said it was difficult to establish the offences in the dairy sector. Under the proposed law, use of civil type of evidence to prosecute the offenders should be possible.

Apart from the food adulteration Act, the consumer protection Act and even the Indian Penal Code could be invoked against such offenders.

The State’s daily milk demand is nearly 80 lakh litres. Of this, 20 lakh litres is met through imports from the neighbouring States. Much of the complaints are targeted against some fly-by-night milk producers from other States.

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