New Delhi: Giving a clean chit to all
leading milk suppliers, the city government on Wednesday told
the Delhi High Court that no sample of milk was found having
material injurious to health.
"No sample of milk was found having detergent, added
urea, neutraliser or any other material injurious to health,"
said Delhi government counsel Zubeda Begum to the bench of
Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw.
Claiming that milk suppliers have followed the prescribed
standard under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, the
counsel added "no survey sample of milk in Delhi lifted and
analysed by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI) was found deficient in fat or solid not fat as
prescribed by the Act."
Earlier this month, taking suo motu cognisance over a
news report that 70 per cent of milk samples lifted from the
national capital were found contaminated, the bench had sought
the city as well as central government's response.
In its reply, the lawyer told the court that the
Department of Prevention of Food Adulteration had held a
meeting with the suppliers, including Mother Dairy, DMS, Amul,
Paras and other dairies, which have assured the government to
take all steps not to supply substandard quality milk in the
market.
Filing an affidavit before the court, the counsel said
the city required 70 lakh liters of milk, out of which 60 lakh
liters have been sold in packaged form through dispensary
booths and rest 10 lakh litres were sold in loose condition.
Sometimes, skimmed milk powder or milk fat was added to
the milk to make up fat deficiencies as per the standards as
the same is permitted by the statute, according to the
affidavit.
Between January, 2009, to August, 2011, the department
had examined 446 samples and 379 samples were found conforming
to the standards and legal action was taken against the rest
suppliers for not conforming to the standards, the affidavit
also said.
According to the media report based on the survey report
of FSSAI, 70 per cent of the milk samples, lifted for
testing in the national capital, were found to be contaminated
with glucose and skimmed milk powder.
The report further claimed almost 69 per cent of the
samples tested by the government agency across the country,
were found adulterated with detergent, fat and even urea,
besides water.
As per the report, the samples taken for testing by
FSSAI from urban areas included both packed as well as loose
milk.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 19:35