It's milk after coke, water

The suspected presence of harmful chemicals and pesticides in milk supplied to the capital and its satellite towns has created panic among consumers leading to a general shortage of packaged milk supplied by government agencies.

Coming close on the heels of findings about the presence of pesticides in bottled mineral water and soft drinks, the news has caught the local authorities on the wrong foot since the Delhi state government's health department does not have facilities to detect these toxins.

The state government has now sought the help of the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, and the chemistry department of Delhi University to help it set up a laboratory.

Out of approximately 3.5 million litres of demand for milk in the city, nearly 2 million litres are supplied by local vendors while the government-owned agencies like the Mother Dairy and the Delhi Milk Supply sell 1.3 million litres and 200,000 litres respectively daily.

"We have no conclusive proof about the presence of chemically adulterated milk or much harmful synthetic milk being supplied in the city. However, we are aware of these threats and are trying to take all possible steps," Delhi's Health Minister Dr A.K. Walia said.

Mother Dairy, which is better equipped to detect these adulterants, has so far rejected 80 tanks of milk after they failed to pass tests at its laboratory.

Delhi gets its supply of milk from neighbouring states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Since maximum demand is met through supply of milk by vendors at doorsteps, their customers are most vulnerable to consuming chemicals and pesticides dissolved in the milk.

A Mother Dairy official said that milk can get adulterated due to various reasons – the foremost being adding impure groundwater to the milk. Since Delhi's groundwater is full of harmful pesticides, they find their way into milk supplied at home.

In some cases, milkmen take the fat content out of milk to produce by-products and add vegetable or mineral oil to make the milk look like thick full cream milk. The most harmful of all is the practise of mixing urea, detergent, caustic soda and vegetable oils with a mix of water and natural milk, which is commonly known as synthetic milk.

Mother Dairy says that milk supplied by them is totally safe as it goes through 37 tests, 16 at the time of procurement and 21 after it is processed. The current shortage according to them is due to the fact that those buying milk from vendors are now turning up at their booths, creating shortage.

Unhealthy practice leads to scarcity
- Mother Dairy rejects 80 tanks of milk after they fail test.
- Practice of selling synthetic milk common among vendors.
- Authorities caught on the wrong foot as health department does not have facilities to test milk.
- Impure groundwater a cause for adulterated milk.