Stringent law needed to check milk adulteration, says Minister Giriraj Singh

July 25, 2019

The Centre has expressed concern over adulteration in milk and asked cooperatives to suspend those who are found to be engaged in such bad practices. Minister of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying Giriraj Singh said there is a need to make stringent laws to check adulteration in milk.

Addressing a conference on Wednesday, Singh said the government would review the current quality standards applicable for the dairy industry. There is also plan to regulate cattle feed industry, he said, as it is also considered as a source of chemical contamination in milk.

“There is a need to bring stringent provision so that if there is adulteration, culprits go to jail. Farmers get bad name. We cannot compete in the global market and export milk, till we achieve clean milk,” the minister said. There is a need to make policy by the government, both the Centre and the states, food regulator FSSAI and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), to check adulteration, he said. Though India is the world’s largest producer of milk with an annual output of 187.86 million tonne, the country’s exports of dairy products have 0.01% share in the global dairy trade.

Singh also asked the cooperatives in the dairy sector to use test kits and other technologies to detect milk adulteration and suggested them to suspend those who are found to be engaged in bad practices. The department of animal husbandry has already approved strengthening of laboratories of 313 dairy plants for detecting adulteration in milk. In the first phase, a central laboratory has also been approved for cooperative sector. Officials said that in the next phase of the programme, village level co-operative societies will be given grants to set up testing labs for checking adulteration. The minister said the government would soon make a policy to improve sex ratio in livestock as well as improve livestock breed.ical contamination in milk.

 

 

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