Amul, Mother Dairy to beef up testing process

Mother Dairy and Amul intend to take up testing of lead to ensure the safety of milk, even as they felt processes in collecting samples were being overlooked by "over zealous" officials.

At a media interaction organised here by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) with officials of Amul and Mother Dairy on Tuesday, the companies said sampling and testing systems will be strengthened to ensure quality milk reaches their customers.

In a reply to a question on the official food regulator's testing standards, Mother Dairy managing director S. Nagarajan said: "We need to work on the processes and testing mechanisms along with FSSAI. State-level food authorities have been over zealous to collect samples."

R.S. Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, the manufacturer of Amul, said proper testing mechanisms and standards were important even for the companies.

Nagarajan also said that heavy metals which haven't been tested so far in milk, will be tested from now on after FSSAI's new draft regulations dated August 1 which specify restrictions on arsenic and copper. The Mother Dairy chief said tests will also be conducted for lead.

"Automatic testing machines will be installed right at the village-level collection centres to check for detergents or other contaminants," said T. Nanda Kumar, chairman of NDDB, the state-run institution that owns Mother Dairy.

These machines will check for any adulteration at the initial stages itself, he said, adding that some 1,000 of these machines will be installed in the next six months at village collection centres. Investments, the officials said, will also be made in cold chains.

Nanda Kumar further added that a world-class milk-testing laboratory would be set up in Anand, Gujarat to assist milk unions for proper analysis of milk and milk products.

The comments come against the backdrop of food safety authorities alleging that two samples of Mother Dairy milk were taken from areas around Agra in November 2004 and one of them had tested positive for detergents.

But Mother Dairy top brass countered that the samples were drawn by food safety authorities even before they had reached the chilling centre where the first level of testing is undertaken to ascertain the quality of milk for further processing.

In Tuesday's interaction, Nanda Kumar said: "The cooperative sector is the single largest producer of safe liquid milk in the organised sector. But some recent reports about alleged poor quality of milk have created an element of doubt among consumers about safety and quality."

He said that in such a scenario, it was important to ensure consumer confidence in cooperatives milk and milk products through effective communication and timely response.

While Mother Dairy is a state-run enterprise, Amul is the brand name of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, a collective of more than 3.5 million milk-producers in the state -- and now with a national presence.