Food regulator to conduct nationwide milk surveillance to curb adulteration

FSSAI will test paneer, ghee, ice cream and other products sold by organised and unorganised sectors

India’s food safety regulator will conduct a nationwide surveillance on milk and milk products, among the most adulterated commodities, as summer temperatures rise.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) will test milk, khoa, chhenna, paneer, ghee, butter, curd, and ice cream sold by organised and unorganised sectors.

“The rationale behind choosing milk for the surveillance is that milk has an indispensable role in our food culture either as a fresh fluid or as processed dairy products. Milk contains vital micronutrients and macronutrients. People of every age group include milk or milk products in their daily diet,” said FSSAI in a statement without giving a date for the survey.

 

India’s total milk production increased from 146.31 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 221.1 MT in 2021-22, helped by various central government schemes.

FSSAI’s last National Milk Safety and Quality Survey in 2022 found that only 0.19 per cent of the total 6,432 milk samples were adulterated, but some industry estimates indicate that the size could be 70 per cent.

“Changing lifestyle patterns and increasing health consciousness are the key growth drivers for milk and high value milk products in India,” the statement said.

FSSAI does regular nationwide surveys of commodities, including those done for milk in 2011 and 2016 with sample sizes of 1,791 and 1,663, respectively.

The National Milk Safety and Quality Survey 2018 was conducted in all states and union territories. As many as 6,432 samples of milk from organised and unorganised sectors were collected in 1,103 towns/cities with a population of more than 50,000.

All samples collected were tested for quality and safety. FSSAI conducted a survey in 2020 to understand the safety and quality of milk products and desserts sold in the market during festivals.

For that survey, 2,801 milk product samples that included paneer, khoya, chhenna were collected in 542 districts from organised and unorganised sectors.

The milk products were tested for all the quality and safety parameters including pesticide residues, heavy metals, crop contaminants, melamine and microbiological parameters.

The FSSAI milk survey in 2022 was done in 12 states of which 10 were affected by Lumpy Skin disease in cattle. The survey aimed to find out how the administration of antibiotics or veterinary drugs in affected animals and spraying of insecticides in the sheds may result in residual contamination in milk.

“The outcome of the survey revealed that the milk sold in the selected 12 states is largely safe for consumption,” said the FSSAI statement.