No laboratories to check dairy

Mumbai: Despite the rise in milk adulteration cases, the state government does not have a laboratory to test samples of adulterated milk. The scrutiny process takes a long time as the milk samples are sent to laboratories in Hyderabad and Ghaziabad and it takes nearly six months to get the report.

The food and drugs administration (FDA) minister Girish Bapat informed the state Assembly on Thursday that to curb milk adulteration cases, the administration collects several samples from various milk installations. During the period from April to October this year, 604 milk samples were taken for analysis. Out of the reports received from 302 cases, 219 were found standard, whereas 83 were proved as of inferior quality.

“The state governme-nt may soon get testing facilities as milk adulteration has been growing in its urban areas. It has directed local civic bodies, including the Brihanmumbai Munic-ipal Corporation, to establish an agency for testing samples of adulterated milk. However, the scheme has not really taken off,” said Mr Bapat while replying to the issue raised by Con-gress legislator Ashok Jagtap and others.

The FDA minister said that adulteration has not only led to economic losses for the state, but has also caused lose of lives in the past. This racket operates mostly after the supply vehicles cross the Octroi check posts in cities such as Pune and Mumbai, he added.

“The milk adulteration racket is more active in bigger cities such as Mumbai. As latest as this October, we seized 19,250 liters of adulterated milk,” he said.