Amul raids open a can of worms

Cooperative faces allegations of larvae in milk.

Around 26,500 kilograms of butter, which was seized by the Gujarat government's Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) from the plant of Amul in Anand on Tuesday, has been sent to a government laboratory at Bhuj for testing.

The cooperative has been struggling to come to terms with two raids earlier this month to probe into complaints of worms in milk powder.

Even before the FDCA, Gujarat could give Amul a clean chit on a recent complaint forwarded by FDCA, Maharashtra, about the alleged presence of worms in milk powder, on Friday, BM Vyas, Managing Director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF) said external agencies, including rivals, could be behind the raids.

Three instances of the Gujarat Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) carrying out checks and inspections of production facilities of Amul at Anand and Himmatnagar, have caused a dent in the credibility of Amul, one of India's most trusted brands and one that has also made a name for itself across the world.

While the Gujarat FDCA carried out an inspection of the Amul milk powder manufacturing facility at Himmatnagar earlier this month, following a complaint made to the Maharashtra FDCA by a consumer that there were larvae inside milk powder, the Gujarat FDCA also carried out inspections at the Amul Dairy in Anand on January 25.

During the inspections of milk pouches three days ago, it was revealed that the dairy was printing the packaging date a day later than it was actually being packed. Also, inspection revealed that butter packets being packaged on January 25, had a manufacturing date of March 2005.

S P Adeshara, Commissioner, Food and Drugs Control Administration, Gujarat, commenting on the recent developments, said, "The quality aspect of the products has not been under question, but yes, the image of the Amul brand has definitely been tarnished. Amul officials are also investigating into where the lapses have occurred."

He added, "Amul is a company that has brought international repute to the country and has maintained high quality standards. What is expected is that it ought to give consumers the right information".

Providing information on the Amulspray milk powder issue, Adeshara said that the Maharashtra FDCA sent a letter to his office in December last, stating that there was a complaint of the presence of larvae in the milk powder.

"Since the production facilities of the milk powder are at Himmatnagar, we got samples and the production facilities inspected, but no anomalies were found. In all probability, the problem could have been in the storage part either at the transportation level or at the consumer's end," the FDCA commissioner said.

He added that in either case, the batch number referred to by the Maharashtra FDCA had already been sold out when inspections were carried out earlier this month.

On the milk pouches issue, Adeshara said that FDCA officials visited the Amul dairy plant at Anand on January 25 and found that milk pouches that were packed on that day (January 25), has labels that they were packed on January 26, which would give the consumers who consumed the milk a day later (January 26) the impression that they were consuming milk packed on that day itself.

"We have neither filed a complaint nor have taken samples, but have issued verbal instructions that resorting to such practices amounts to cheating the consumer," Adeshara said.

Finally, on the seizure of 26,500 kilogrammes of butter, the FDCA commissioner said on Friday that a case under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act has been registered.

"We have seized the stock, but have kept it secured in the plant itself. If Amul wishes to takle possession of the stock of butter, it has to approach the court. But it is not a case of quality as yet, but one of misbranding. The labelling rules are not adhered to," Adeshara said.

Rahul Kumar Shrivastav, managing director of Amul Dairy, which is managed by Kaira Milk Union, said, "The officials had investigated all our product lines such as milk powder, liquid and flavoured milk. The defect has been found only in butter packaging during the supervision. The dates on the butter packaging have been printed by mistake. We have various stages of quality checks before sending product to the market finally. We are confident that samples of butter collected by the authority will pass the quality test."

Commenting further on the issue Kumar said: "It may happen. The mistake could have been in printing the year also in stead of month. It is a co-incidence that the matter came to notice during the supervision." Despite several attempts, state health minister I K jadeja could not be reached for comments on the issue.

The fine print

• 26,500 kgs of butter seized by the Gujarat government from Amul's plant in Anand has been sent to a laboratory at Bhuj for testing
• During inspections of milk pouches it was revealed that the dairy was printing the packaging date a day later than it was actually being packed
• Retail space would be expanded from the current 1.1 million square feet to 3 million square feet by 2005
• Pantaloon expects new model to last for seven years
• Private labels for two new business categories, beverages and homes, will be launched shortly
• Beverages to fall under the umbrella of Food Bazaar