FSSAI says 'no cause of alarm' about milk adulteration

There is no cause of alarm about quality of milk in India, food regulator FSSAI CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal said Tuesday, citing initial findings of its nationwide survey.

He said the FSSAI collected 6,000 samples for testing and it would soon release the initial survey report.

"There is no alarming situation. The 2011 survey showed 68 per cent of samples as sub-standard. But sub-standard does not mean that milk is unsafe. Only 14-15 per cent of samples were unsafe," he told reporters when asked about milk adulteration.

He said the samples which were found unsafe were not further analysed in details.

Agarwal said the majority of milk samples that were found to be safe contained water and also did not have required fat content.

"In the new survey, we are not only testing samples on qualitative norms but also and quantitative parameters. Besides we are going to check residues from pesticides and fodders. We will soon releases the initial report of this survey. But I want to say there is no cause of alarm," Agarwal said.

In a nationwide survey on milk adulteration by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in 2011, 68.4 per cent of the samples lifted from 33 states and UTs did not confirm to the prescribed standards.

The survey that was conducted through FSSAI's five regional offices in 2011, a total of 1,791 samples were drawn from 33 states and were tested in the government laboratories.