70% of loose milk in Punjab poisonous for consumption
By
Rizwan Asif
Published: April 5, 2019
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PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE: As much as 70 per cent of loose milk sold in urban Punjab contains traces of harmful chemicals and bacteria, a report submitted by provincial authorities to Prime Minister Imran Khan has revealed.
Of the 601 samples of loose milk collected from Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi, 422 were deemed unfit for consumption upon testing and found to contain traces of harmful chemical compounds like formaldehyde, ammonium sulphate, hydrogen peroxide, urea and others found in detergents. Formaldehyde, in particular, can cause stomach and heart problems and even blindness if ingested. The water used to increase the volume of loose milk was also found to contain traces of various germs and bacteria, including coliforms, and chemical and organic pollutants.
According to the report presented to the prime minister, the ‘adulteration mafia’ is also selling artificial powdered milk smuggled from Iran to meet the demand for milk in the cities, sources said. According to them, he was told that the mafia prepares milk by using a laundry washing machine to mix this powder, sold for Rs14 to Rs15, ghee and water. This artificial loose milk costs Rs18 per kg to make but is sold for Rs45 per kg to wholesalers, who in turn jack up the price to Rs75 per kg for consumers, the sources added.
Prime Minister Imran sought the report after being alerted by senior health experts and some parliamentarians of the health risks posed by adulterated loose milk being sold in the country’s most populous province, sources told The Express Tribune. Upon reviewing the report, the premier directed senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen to collaborate with Punjab authorities on a pasteurisation policy inspired by the one used in Turkey.
Turkey made pasteurisation of milk mandatory in 1995 and banned sale of loose milk in 2008. To support enforcement of these laws, it made investments in public sector milk production and provide concessions to private sector milk producers. The steps resulted in a 90% increase in Turkey’s milk and milk by-product exports.
The Punjab government intends to follow this model to curb adulteration of milk. A committee comprising Tareen, the Punjab food minister, the provincial food, livestock, finance, transport and industry secretaries, and the Punjab Food Authority director general will collaborate with industry stakeholders to devise a comprehensive pasteurisation policy which will eventually result in a ban on sale of loose milk in the province, sources said.
Some aspects of the policy being considered including labeling pasteurised milk in accordance with Punjab Pure Food Regulations 2018 and keeping pasteurised milk at 6 degrees Celsius till it reaches consumers. According to sources, the milk industry will be allowed a five-year business adjustment period once the new policy comes in force.
According to government research, Pakistan’s milk industry produces 54 billion litres every year but only 10 per cent is sold in packaged form. Most milk is loaded into barrels with water and ice immediately after being obtained from buffaloes and supplied to cities via heavy road vehicles.
Nutrition experts warn that milk obtains from buffaloes is quick to spoil unless it is boiled to a certain temperature and allowed to cool rapidly.
Meanwhile, testing loose milk to determine whether it is made using powder or not is a costly and difficult procedure. The kit to detect whether milk has been adulterated with water costs Rs300 and can be used multiple times. But a kit for ascertaining whether milk is artificial costs Rs1,700 and can only used once. This is why the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) uses it less often and only on batches of 3,000 to 5,000 litres at a time.
Talking to The Express Tribune, PFA DG Capt (retd) Usman Younis said the Punjab livestock department is also preparing a long term policy to bridge the gap between milk supply and demand. He said PFA has also taken steps to curb adulterated milk production, inspecting 28 dairy production units of Punjab 63 times between 2017 and 2019.
“We issued 38 reform notices and penalties to 13 units, and sealed three of them. We also raided 2,241 milk shops this year, issuing reform notices to 1,755 and sealing 19. Violators were fined Rs972,600 in total,” he said.
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Is our loose milk safe?
Good nutrition and access to an adequate and balanced diet is essential not only for child's growth and development, but also for adults for protection from both infectious and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Milk is traditionally considered as a complete food and has been known as "Mother Nature's most perfect food". This attribution is due to its being the only food that alone is able to sustain life and growth of humans, and the reason is because of its rich content of protein, fat, carbohydrates, almost all known vitamins and various minerals essential for sustaining life and maintaining good health. Milk is known for its nutritious importance and its role in strengthening of bones, teeth, muscles and lowering the risk of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, ischemic heart disease, depression and cancers. This makes milk an ideal drink for all ages. All these benefits of milk can only be obtained if we consume milk in its pure and safe form because on one hand, if pure milk ensures healthy growth and nourishment then on the other hand, adulterated milk causes morbidity and serious health outcome.
Statistics show that 90% of the Pakistani population consumes loose milk. The reason behind this is years of tradition, where loose milk is bought from gawalas (loose milk sellers), which is then boiled before consumption. Most Pakistanis remain unaware to the many health hazards posed by loose milk. There is no doubt that milk provides us many benefits still there is a long list of questions about the kind of milk that masses are using. Among these the quality concerns are most serious because the entire value chain starting from production till its consumption is questionable.
The whole story of raw milk collection and its delivery to the consumer in an unpacked form starts even before the collection process in the traditional dairy farms where cows are injected with hormones and drugs to increase productivity. Next, how loose milk finds its way from village to the urban consumer through a series of steps is another story.Poor sanitations of livestock shed, non-cleaning of animals before milking; milking by hand, adulteration of milk with preservatives and chemicals are few among many hazards in this chain. The bacteria from the animal might pass in the milk. Some of the pathogens found in loose raw milk include: E. coli, salmonella, campylobacter, cryptosporidium and listeria. All of these pathogens can be in the intestines and feces of cattle and may enter raw milk through improper handling and non-sanitary milking procedures. The milkmen generally milk the animal and keep the milk in open, which again surely cause addition of pathogens present in the air.
Local dairy farmers store the milk in non-sanitized open buckets and the milk is then carelessly and improperly transported to consumers directly or retail shopkeepers carrying millions of bacteria within. Due to metallic nature of milk containers chances of this milk getting spoiled are quite high. Insufficient or non-availability of icing facilities during transport of milk further compromise the quality even before it reaches the consumer. Any bacteria present in loose milk rapidly multiply as it gets transported in such a manner.
Finally, through retailers and 'gawalas' (street milk vendors) milk reaches the consumer and by the time, the consumers drink it; it is less of milk and more of water, as during this journey lot of ice and unfiltered water is also added. In order to ensure that the milk's appearance doesn't change, some milkmen (gawalas) add starch, flour, urea, vegetable oil, etc. Sometimes hydrogen peroxide is also added to preserve the milk. Addition of these adulterants and chemicals may not only cause loss of important nutrients of milk but pose harmful effects on health as well. Studies (conducted in third world countries and various region of Pakistan) have shown that consumption of adulterated milk contribute significantly to the poor nutritional statues especially of children under 5 years of age.
The journey doesn't end here. In an effort to make this drink suitable for drinking the normal practice in most of the households in Pakistan is to boil milk in open pans for several minutes. Sadly most households in Pakistan are still unaware that prolonged and repeated boiling of milk leads to loss of valuable nutrients.
In view of above the regular consumption of loose milk has now become the biggest threat to public health, in Pakistan. The main concerns when it comes to consumption of loose milk are maintaining its good quality, ensuring a standard hygiene during milking and handling animal, preventing contamination and adulteration, since adulteration has become an endemic issue. In this regard, Punjab Food Authority (PFA) is actively conducting province-wide operation against adulterated milk by placing screening pickets for inspecting the quality of milk and at several occasions thousands of liters of adulterated and substandard loose milk has been disposed of. However, more needs to be done to make adulteration less easy and punished to a greater extent.
Milk is acknowledged as basic building block of balanced diet and important source of nutrition throughout the globe. Governments across the world are increasing regulations to maintain consumer's interest by introducing Minimum Pasteurization Law in order to guarantee standard milk quality. Implementation of this law is essential in Pakistan as well to ensure that the milk reaching the consumers from any source is free of adulteration and safe for human consumption.
Provision of healthy and safe hygienic milk to the consumers is currently a big challenge for government and policymakers. Dairy sector of Pakistan and other industry participants should fund an aggressive, purposeful marketing campaign to educate consumers on the dangers of loose milk. Preferably this campaign should be launched in both print and electronic media in the national language.
(The author is an MBBS and MPhil in Pharmacology, and teaches in a private medical college in Lahore. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the newspaper)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
