68% of milk in India adulterated; test gadget available

Milk is generally considered a healthy drink – but perhaps not in India, where 68 per cent of the milk sold is found to have been adulterated.

Reports suggest that the milk we consume does not conform to the standards laid down by the food Indian Food and Drugs Administration and other authorities.

The Lok Sabha was on Wednesday informed that the most common adulterants found in milk are detergent powder, caustic soda, glucose, white paint and refined oil. Needless to say, several of these additives are positively poisonous and could cause serious ailments.

Science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan said during Question Hour that a new scanner has been developed which can detect adulteration in milk in 40 seconds and can even pinpoint the adulterant.

Earlier, for every type of adulteration, a separate chemical test was required. But now a single scanner can do the job, he said.

There were murmurs among members when the minister suggested that these scanners could be purchased by MPs through their constituency funds.

Though the scanners are costly as of now, each test costs a mere 10 paisa, he said.

Vardhan said in the near future, GPS-based technology could be used to track the exact location where the milk supplied in the cold chain has been tampered with.

There are two lakh villages in the country from where milk is collected.