‘21 milk samples found to be sub-standard’

A little over 12% of the samples of milk tested by the Delhi government during a recent drive were found to be “sub-standard”, data from a Department of Food Safety report shows.

Releasing the data on Friday, Health Minister Satyendar Jain, stated that 21 samples of milk including brands like Mother Dairy and Amul were found to be sub-standard though “not unsafe”.

A total of 177 samples were tested between April 13 and April 28.

Results for 168 samples had been received by the department so far and of these 165 were of milk and three were other products. One sample of ghee was found to be unsafe.

Mixed with powder

Mr. Jain explained that the 21 samples had been deemed sub-standard as they did not have the required 5% fat content, meaning that water may have been mixed with milk powder.

The government would continue its inspection drive and include other products like paneer and khoya, he said.

Action to be taken

The Minister added that in the cases where the samples were found to be sub-standard, the government would initiate action to impose penalties.

In a statement, Mother Dairy said the company was yet to receive the findings of the government’s testing so it would not comment further on the issue.

‘Quality certificate’

“However, we would like to state that each batch of Mother Dairy milk undergoes stringent quality tests at four levels to ensure safe and quality milk is made available for consumption. In addition, we have recently received Quality Mark certification for all our poly pack milk variants sold in Delhi NCR to ensure our consumers of 100% conformance to the prescribed norms,” a Mother Dairy spokesperson said.

In a statement to Press Trust of India (PTI), Amul Managing Director (MD) R. S. Sondhi said the official report was awaited.

“In Amul, we maintain higher standards than that recommended by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, so variation [sub-standard milk] is not possible. However, while sampling or testing if proper care and process is not fully followed, such variation may occur. We shall await the detailed report and then can give a complete reply,” the MD told PTI.

MLAs raised issued

The testing had been ordered by the Minister after several MLAs raised the issue of sub-standard milk products being sold in Delhi during the most recent session of the Delhi Assembly last month.

The Minister said that the government was able to expedite the testing process with the addition of 18 new food inspectors recently.