Introduction
The food quality
ombudsman of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Food and Drug
Administration (UP FDA) is reported to have found detergent in one of the
samples drawn from Mother Diary’s milk packets. However, the company, which is
in the dock, has sought to contest this claim that has come in a section of the
media. After this expose, the Delhi-based brand has gone on record
categorically denying the adulteration milk distributed in pouches.
Another Case of Food
Adulteration
If the media reports coming out of a
section of the media have to be believed, the UP FDA has found detergent in the
one of the two samples of milk produced and packaged by Mother Diary, which is
one of the reputed brands in North India providing milk to a large section of
people. This was shared to the media by one Ram Naresh Yadav, who is an
official working with the UP FDA in Agra.
While sharing the test results with the media, he showed the facts come
out of the results show the milk provided by the reputed brand was of substandard
quality.
Test Results on Samples
On getting certain complaints from the
customers, the UP FDA visited the Mother Diary’s milk collection centres in Bah
and picked up some random samples for ascertaining their quality in November
2014. The drawn samples were first sent to Lucknow-based laboratory for finding
the presence of detergent in them. The results were inconclusive. Hence, the
same samples were later sent to a more equipped Kolkata –based laboratory for
the detailed testing. This information was
shared by the UP FDA official work in its Agra branch. Moreover, the results
from the Lucknow laboratory were contested by the company, necessitating the
detailed analysis by an independent laboratory.
Mother Diary’s Response
Mother
Diary chose to dismiss the claim by the UP state through its public relations exercise.
Its head of Milk, Fruits and Vegetables sought to confront the claim by UP FDA
by stating that the products from the company undergo four levels of thorough
testing at various levels. He further added that the quality check is enforced
by the company at input, processing, dispatches and market levels to ensure the
edibility of the products. Apart from these, the milk reaching the company
premises is subjected to a series of 23 stringent quality checks to note down
anomalies or contamination in the sample, if any, he quipped. On the basis of
these tests, the contaminated milk is filtered from the supply line without any
further notice, he claimed. He assured
the media that these stringent quality tests undertaken at the company premises
are designed to find the adulteration of milk with water, oil, urea, detergent,
etc. In short, the company spokesperson claimed that it follows 100% testing
protocol to remain fool proof.
