UP FDA finds detergent in milk sample of Mother Dairy

Samples were picked up from Mother Dairy's collection centres in Bah in Nov 2014

The UP Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday said it has found detergent in one of the samples of milk picked from Mother Dairy’s collection centres, a claim contested by the Delhi-based company.

“Results showed that the samples were sub-standard and one of the two contained detergent,” UP FDA official in Agra Ram Naresh Yadav told PTI.

The samples were picked up from Mother Dairy’s collection centres in Bah in November 2014. “The samples were first sent to Lucknow and later to Kolkata as demanded by the company,” Yadav said.

Mother Dairy has denied the adulteration allegation.

“It is very unfortunate that the samples collected at the village level are being wrongly attributed to Mother Dairy. The milk sample (was picked up before it reached the chilling centre) and cannot be attributed to the brand Mother Dairy as it has not been tested or accepted as good quality. We would like to reiterate that as a process the milk is first pooled at the collection centre, after which the collected milk is taken to a chilling centre where it undergoes tests to check for adulterants. If the milk is found not meeting the requisite standards, it is rejected. Only acceptable quality milk is then transported to the Mother Dairy factories for further processing. The milk is again tested there,” said a Mother Dairy spokesperson.

Sandeep Ghosh, the head of Milk, Fruits and Vegetables Section at Mother Dairy in Delhi, said every tanker reaching a plant passes a series of 23 stringent quality tests to detect contamination of milk. The organisation follows 100 per cent testing protocol rather than resorting to random testing procedures, Ghosh added.