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Raj Kamal
Jul 2, 2013, 7:45:54 PM7/2/13
to Mtech Soex ES 2012_14, MCT2012-2014, SoEx MTech SIT 2012_14, MSc Elex & Comm
68% of milk does not meet food norms: Centre tells SC
TNN | Jul 3, 2013, 04.03 AM IST
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The
Centre on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that 68.4% of milk samples
collected from rural and urban areas of all states failed to meet food safety
standards.
RELATED
NEW DELHI: Common
nutritional supplementmilk you take may not be all that nutritious
as an overwhelming majority of samples of milk supplied across the country
failed to meet thefood
safety and standard norms.
The Centre on Tuesday dished out startling fact about the health of milk supplied both loose or in packets and informed the Supreme Court that 68.4% of the samples collected from rural and urban areas of all states failed food safety and standards (FSS).
A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghosh was startled when additional solicitor general Rakesh Khanna informed that the 88% of the samples taken in Uttar Pradesh were found to be adulterated.
The bench said: "It's a very sensitive issue. It is happening all over the country no doubt about it. If 88% is adulterated, then officers need to be prosecuted. If it is still going on what action has been taken against the officers? There has to be some disciplinary action. We will grant three weeks for the six states to respond."
The bench listed for further hearing on July 31 a PIL by Swami Achyutanand Tirth, who had alleged that there was rampant adulteration/contamination of milk and milk products in various parts of the country. He had alleged that milk was being prepared by use of material like urea, detergent, refined oil, caustic soda and white paint. He had sought strict monitoring of milk quality and prosecution of delinquent suppliers.
Khanna informed the court that the Food Safety and Standards Authority on coming to know of news reports about adulteration of milk had conducted a snap survey covering many states and Union Territories (UTs). It had collected 1,791 samples of milk from 33 states and UTs with a good mix of rural and urban areas which included milk sold loose or in packets.
"After analysis 565 (31.5%) of samples were found to be conforming to FSS standards whereas 1226 (68.4%) samples of milk were non-conforming. The non-conforming samples in rural areas were 381 (31%) out of which 64 (16.7%) were packet samples and 317 (83.2%) were loose samples," the Centre said.
The milk supplied in urban areas was found to be worse. 'In urban areas the total non-conforming samples were 845 (68.9%) of which 282 (33.35) were packed and 563 (66.6%) were loose samples," it said.
"In the state of Uttar Pradesh, the total samples taken were 136 of which only 17 were found conforming to the FSS norms and the non-conforming samples accounted for 88%. The deviations observed may be due to addition of water to milk," the Centre said.
"Addition of water not only reduces the nutritional value of milk but if contaminated water is used, it may also pose health risk to the consumers," it said and added, "the study also indicated traces of detergent in some cases. Milk with detergent is unsafe for consumption."
The UPA government said the findings of the study had been communicated to all the Food safety Commissioners in all states and UTs with an advice - "appropriate measures be taken specifically to check the quality of milk and take appropriate legal action as prescribed under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and its Rules and Regulations".
The Centre on Tuesday dished out startling fact about the health of milk supplied both loose or in packets and informed the Supreme Court that 68.4% of the samples collected from rural and urban areas of all states failed food safety and standards (FSS).
A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghosh was startled when additional solicitor general Rakesh Khanna informed that the 88% of the samples taken in Uttar Pradesh were found to be adulterated.
The bench said: "It's a very sensitive issue. It is happening all over the country no doubt about it. If 88% is adulterated, then officers need to be prosecuted. If it is still going on what action has been taken against the officers? There has to be some disciplinary action. We will grant three weeks for the six states to respond."
The bench listed for further hearing on July 31 a PIL by Swami Achyutanand Tirth, who had alleged that there was rampant adulteration/contamination of milk and milk products in various parts of the country. He had alleged that milk was being prepared by use of material like urea, detergent, refined oil, caustic soda and white paint. He had sought strict monitoring of milk quality and prosecution of delinquent suppliers.
Khanna informed the court that the Food Safety and Standards Authority on coming to know of news reports about adulteration of milk had conducted a snap survey covering many states and Union Territories (UTs). It had collected 1,791 samples of milk from 33 states and UTs with a good mix of rural and urban areas which included milk sold loose or in packets.
"After analysis 565 (31.5%) of samples were found to be conforming to FSS standards whereas 1226 (68.4%) samples of milk were non-conforming. The non-conforming samples in rural areas were 381 (31%) out of which 64 (16.7%) were packet samples and 317 (83.2%) were loose samples," the Centre said.
The milk supplied in urban areas was found to be worse. 'In urban areas the total non-conforming samples were 845 (68.9%) of which 282 (33.35) were packed and 563 (66.6%) were loose samples," it said.
"In the state of Uttar Pradesh, the total samples taken were 136 of which only 17 were found conforming to the FSS norms and the non-conforming samples accounted for 88%. The deviations observed may be due to addition of water to milk," the Centre said.
"Addition of water not only reduces the nutritional value of milk but if contaminated water is used, it may also pose health risk to the consumers," it said and added, "the study also indicated traces of detergent in some cases. Milk with detergent is unsafe for consumption."
The UPA government said the findings of the study had been communicated to all the Food safety Commissioners in all states and UTs with an advice - "appropriate measures be taken specifically to check the quality of milk and take appropriate legal action as prescribed under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and its Rules and Regulations".
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