FDA identifies city’s milk adulteration hotspots

By Shruti Ganapatye

After more than a year of random checks and raids, the food quality control body has listed places in the city where significant dilution and repackaging of milk takes place.

After a year-long drive to prevent milk adulteration in the city, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified Khar Danda, Suresh Nagar in Andheri West, Juhu Galli, Dahisar and Malavani in Malad as areas where milk is adulterated or diluted with water, posing serious health hazards to consumers.

Based on inside information and complaints, the FDA has been conducting a special drive from April 1, 2017, to check the quality of milk for household consumption. The raids have been conducted at random places and random hours, especially in the wee hours when milk is supplied to the city. In these past months, FDA officers followed the suppliers’ chain to crack the cause and effect theory. After gruelling ground work, the FDA has identified the above areas where mixing takes place and the milk pouches are repacked.

In its latest drive this month, beginning June 12, the FDA covered all the usual check points in the city, including Mankhurd, Mulund, Airoli, Dahisar and Vashi. In just one month, 4.62 lakh litre milk was checked and 1,998 litre was sent back to dairies outside the city.

Since April 2017, the FDA has conducted several raids in Mumbai and sent 207 random samples for checking. “Of these, we found that 39 samples were substandard and milk worth Rs 23,000 was seized. As a result, suppliers were fined Rs 70,000 in Mumbai alone,” another FDA official said.

Chronicling the milk supplier chain, an officer involved in operations said that usually water is mixed with milk and refilled in pouches. “The remaining milk is sold to tea shops and hotels at a lower price. In 500 ml milk, 50 ml water is mixed. Just by looking at the packs, one can make out that it was tampered with,” the official said. In a recent raid conducted in Andheri, the officers caught a group of suppliers diluting one morning’s milk supply. Prior to the raid, about 40 to 50 lt of milk was mixed with water every day in the area. “Now we are conducting surprise raids to prevent this mixing,” FDA joint commissioner (food) Shailesh Adhav told Mumbai Mirror.

Meanwhile, intending to prevent adulteration, Maharashtra government has announced to bring in an Act, making milk adulteration a nonbailable offence and with maximum imprisonment of three years.