Stringent law needed to check milk adulteration: Minister

Expressing concern over milk quality, Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh on Wednesday said there is a need to make stringent provisions, including jail term, to check adulteration in milk and other dairy products.

The government will review the current quality standards applicable for the dairy industry and also has plans to regulate cattle feed industry.

Addressing a conference here, the minister said there is no proposal to allow import of milk in view of bumper domestic production.

"Since more than two decades, Indian is number one in milk production. The latest estimate of milk output is 187.86 million tonnes," Singh said.

He highlighted that milk production rose by 50 million tonnes in the last five years, much higher than what was achieved in the previous government.

Allaying fears of imports, he said there is no government policy to allow imports.

"We have sufficient production, why I will allow imports from other countries," Singh said, and asked milk unions and private dairies not to worry.

However, he said the dairy industry needs to focus on milk quality and asked it to use technologies to check adulteration at every stage from milk collection to processing.

"Till agriculture is done along with livestock, farmers' income cannot be doubled," Singh said.

He said the ministry would soon make a policy to improve sex ratio in livestock as well as improve livestock breed.

Stressing on improving the quality of milk and other dairy products, Singh said there is a need to make policy by the government, centre as well as states, food regulator FSSAI and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), to check adulteration.

"There is a need to bring stringent provision so that if there is adulteration, culprits go to jail. Farmers get bad name," the minister said.

Singh asked the milk unions to use test kits and other technologies to detect milk adulteration and suggested them to suspend those who are found to be engaged in such bad practices.

"We cannot compete in the global market and export milk, till we achieve 'clean milk'," he added.

The minister directed dairy companies, both cooperatives and private sector, to pay farmers within seven days through bank accounts.

Singh talked about creating awareness about livestock diseases and importance of vaccinations to curb it.

He said the government has started a programme to tag all cows and buffaloes in the country and the same would be completed by 2020.

The minister emphasised on value addition in dairy industry and said cow dung and cow urine could be used to make fertilisers.

Speaking at the event, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Sanjeev Balyan expressed concern over milk quality and said this needs to be addressed.

The milk consumption will increase if quality improves, he added.

Balyan said the Centre is giving attention to this sector and a new ministry has been created.

He highlighted that a Rs 13,500 crore programme has been initiated to check foot and mouth disease that causes a huge losses to farmers.

Balyan said the government would promote both co-operatives and private companies in this sector to ensure that farmers get better price for their product.

Tarun Shridhar, secretary in this ministry, said all existing standards applicable in the dairy industry would be reviewed.