According to the milk producers, real milk is put aside in the winter months and turned into powder which is then mixed back into the milk whenever real milk runs short which seems to be everyday.The government brings out yearly statistics on fake milk, and even when their own studies done by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) show that more than 75% is not milk at all but urea, water, caustic soda, paint, sugar, detergent Hydrogen Peroxide, starch, glucose, salt, Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) and vegetable fat, they still will take no action on the producers.
Let us presume that you buy government milk packets thinking that the government could not be cheating its own people. But when the government allows corruption in every field, why not milk? Today a major part of the milk in the packets is not the primary product of a cow or buffalo but reconstituted from powder.Here is a report done by Harish Damodaran, an award winning journalist who has specialized in agri-business and commodities coverage: ‘ Nowhere is this more apparent than in the national Capital itself, where the market leader, Mother Dairy India Ltd, consumes an estimated 20,000 tonnes of skimmed milk powder (SMP) annually or 55 tonnes daily. That translates into six lakh litres per day (LLPD) of milk or roughly 30 per cent of the 20-22 LLPD that Mother Dairy sells on an average in Delhi. The proportion of reconstituted milk to the total throughout rises to 50 % during summer months.’
Even in the states where there is milk, milk powder is added by private cooperatives and dairies. Why is this done? The Prevention of Food Adulteration rules stipulate a minimum 8.5 % Solids-Not-Fat (SNF) content for toned milk and 9 per cent in double-toned milk. If a dairy adds water then, to bring up the milk to the regulation standard, skimmed milk powder is added.
Let us presume that you buy government milk packets thinking that the government could not be cheating its own people. But when the government allows corruption in every field, why not milk? Today a major part of the milk in the packets is not the primary product of a cow or buffalo but reconstituted from powder.Here is a report done by Harish Damodaran, an award winning journalist who has specialized in agri-business and commodities coverage: ‘ Nowhere is this more apparent than in the national Capital itself, where the market leader, Mother Dairy India Ltd, consumes an estimated 20,000 tonnes of skimmed milk powder (SMP) annually or 55 tonnes daily. That translates into six lakh litres per day (LLPD) of milk or roughly 30 per cent of the 20-22 LLPD that Mother Dairy sells on an average in Delhi. The proportion of reconstituted milk to the total throughout rises to 50 % during summer months.’
Even in the states where there is milk, milk powder is added by private cooperatives and dairies. Why is this done? The Prevention of Food Adulteration rules stipulate a minimum 8.5 % Solids-Not-Fat (SNF) content for toned milk and 9 per cent in double-toned milk. If a dairy adds water then, to bring up the milk to the regulation standard, skimmed milk powder is added.