A formal police complaint is yet to be registered. (Representational)
A racket selling adulterated milk was busted by the food safety department in Sehra taluka of Panchmahals on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip off, a team led by the Sehra municipality sanitary inspector raided Kanhaiya dairy near the Sehra Lunawada highway where milk was found to be adulterated with urea and oil, officials said. The shop and the factory, run from the same rented premise by Dilip Parmar who lived on the floor above, have been sealed until further notice.
After preliminary investigations, officials said Parmar started his milk business nine months ago and acquired raw milk from dairy farmers and sold it from his shop at a profitable margin. However, for the past few months, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, he was allegedly facing financial crisis, following which he started adulterating the milk to be able to sell more than he bought from the farmers, officials stated.
The inspection team seized two sacks of urea, 15 pouches of empty milk, refined oil bottles and a mixer grinder. “We raided the place based on proper information. We have sent a sample for further testing to quantify the exact amount of urea used in each pouch of milk. Humans react to the consumption of urea depending on the amount consumed. It can lead to irritation, nausea, etc. High concentration in blood can also be life threatening,” said Jitendra Rathod, Sehra municipality sanitary inspector.
A formal police complaint is yet to be registered. District Food Safety Officer Raunak Mehra said, “The samples have been sent for testing. A report has been submitted by the sanitary inspector but as per protocols a formal complaint can only be filed after the test results are received.”