SRINAGAR: Central Food Laboratory (CFL), Kolkata, has reported the packed milk, which produced by one of the leading industrial house, Khyber, as unsafe for human consumption, a local newsgathering agency CNS revealed, quoting sources. The laboratory, according to the agency report, has found the synthetic detergent adulterated in the milk samples.
Srinagar Municipal Corporation has reportedly received a report from the Central Food Laboratory (CFL), Kolkata, which has declared the Khyber milk unsafe and hazardous for human consumption.
Taking serious note of the report, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation according to sources directed Health Officer SMC to apprise the District administration officials about the issue so that legal action against the company could be initiated.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, according to sources, will chair a high-level meeting on Thursday and formulate a policy to proceed against the company.
Confirming this, Health Officer SMC, Shafqat Ahmed Khan said that a negative report about Khyber Agro Farms has been received by the Corporation and in this regard a high level meeting was convened in Srinagar on Wednesday but due to some reasons it was postponed and now would be held on Thursday.
Yes, the samples of Khyber milk have been contaminated. We have received the report. There is nothing to hide and we are going to inform the general public within days, Khan said adding that they would follow legal process and would apprise all the authorities about the negative report of the Khyber Company.
The Health Officer further said that it is a public issue and the authorities have taken a serious note of it. The report is lying with me and we are going to initiate action against the company under law and soon after the meeting a notice would be sent to the said company, he informed.
Khyber Agro Farms located at Letapora in South Kashmir supplies sixty thousand liters of milk per day all across Kashmir that is being consumed by millions of Kashmiri people.
Pertinently, a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justices Hasnain Massodi and D S Thakur, while showing concern over poor implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act in the state, had held that presence of detergent in milk samples collected on its direction from the market is indicative of milk having been manufactured with constituents highly harmful for human consumption.
Synthetic milk, the bench had observed, as per available scientific research is prepared by mixing urea, caustic soda, refined oil and common detergents. The detergents are used to dissolve oil in water giving frothy solution characters of white colour of milk. Refined oil is used as substitute for milk fat. Caustic soda is used to blend milk and to neutralise acidity preventing it from turning sour during its transport from the place it is manufactured to the consumers. The bench had observed: The synthetic milk may cause cancer as it has carcinogenic properties. It may cause cancer and other serious ailments of vital organs of a human being.
According to a study conducted by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) experts fear the consumption of contaminated milk by the gullible people across the state could lead to gastroenteritis, food poisoning, endocrinology and several other chronic diseases.
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