 "Unlike Nestle, milk cooperatives and FSSAI negotiate truce early")
The two bodies have reached an agreement about the quality checks, infrastructure, and government testing facilities needed to conduct accurate product tests by the regulator, it is learnt.
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On Tuesday, in a closed-door meeting between the FSSAI’s newly-appointed chairman Ashish Bahuguna, NDDB chairman T Nanda Kumar, Amul managing director R S Sodhi, and Mother Dairy managing director S Nagarajan, among others, the regulator and the stakeholders sorted out their differences, sources said. In June, the alleged contamination of milk in the sample collected by the Uttar Pradesh food safety authority from Mother Dairy’s village-level collection point showcased differences of opinion between the two.
To avoid any such incident in future and to boast consumer confidence on packaged milk, the NDDB has decided to make testing of milks more stringent.
At the village-level collection point, only fat and SNF (solid not fat) contents used to be tested, as is the common practice. NDDB has now advised cooperatives to test all possible parameters of possible adulteration at the collection point. “At an early stage, we are now installing electronic machines, which can test all required parameters, in areas where history of adulteration has been high,” said R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation.
The sector is expected to install 1,000 such machines in six months in identified areas with high probability of milk adulteration – mostly in north India.
The poor testing quality of FSSAI laboratories in India is a major concern for the sector, the representatives told FSSAI in the meeting. “There are different results from different labs (of the same sample). This is an area of concern, which the FSSAI has also identified,” said Nagarajan of Mother Dairy. He said the regulator has promised the representatives that the number of laboratories and funding to run such labs would be increased.
Given that Nestle and FSSAI haven’t been able to come to an understanding two months after the controversy started, experts say the pro-active move taken by the packaged milk sector and the regulator is a sign of pragmatism.
According to T Nanda Kumar, chairman of NDDB, the ongoing activities by the FSSAI will help the organised sector. “We are thankful to FSSAI for strict enforcement as, in the long run, the sale of packaged products will only increase (because of stricter enforcement of rules).”