Mother Dairy denies UP FDA charges, considers approaching FSSAI

Company claims there's no detergent in its milk and that faulty samples were taken before processing

Mother Dairy might stop procuring milk from the Shahpur chilling centre if UP Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s investigation proves the milk sample collected from that facility found to be adulterated. The firm fears the possibility of foul play during milk collection.

Although the company is responsible for presence of any substandard materials in its products, it has blamed the state FDA of prematurely sensitising customers.

Last December, UP FDA officials collected two samples from one of Mother Dairy’s milk collection centres in Shahpur at Bah tehsil of Uttar Pradesh, which allegedly contained detergent and lower SNF (solid not fat) particles than the prescribed level.

According to S Nagarajan, managing director, Mother Dairy since the samples were collected from “somewhere in between” the company’s village collection centre and its chilling plant, the milk should not be considered a finished product for consumption.

"It is unfortunate that loose milk samples collected at village level which are yet to be accepted for processing at our factory has been attributed to Mother Dairy brand," he said. Since, the FDA has not shared any tests results, or sent a notice to the company till now. Mother Dairy is might take up the issue with the country’s food safety regulator, FSSAI.

Nagarajan said, “Safety of our customers is very important for us.” According to him, the UP FDA statement on Tuesday, based on test results of milk that Mother Dairy “did not even had a chance to check and reject” since it was collected before it reached the company’s test facility.

“This erodes the trust of customers,” he said. Mother Dairy conducts tests at four levels on the milk collected and packaged products to detect ammonia, urea, salts, sugar level, peroxides and detergents among others.

“At village level, we test the cleanliness of vessels and presence of any foreign matter in the milk during collection,” he said. Nearly, 23 tests are conducted at the company’s plants before and during the production of packaged milk.

“We also collected samples regularly from the market to ensure quality,” Nagarajan said. Mother Dairy was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1974. It currently sells 3.5 million litres of milk a day in Delhi and National Capital Region, Uttar Pradesh, Harayana, Punjab, apart from Mumbai and Hyderabad.