Maharashtra FDA to introduce end-to-end traceability of milk to fight adulteration

In a bid to arrest the frequent and recurring incidents of milk adulteration in Maharashtra, the State’s Food and Drug Administration has planned a massive digitisation initiative for end-to-end traceability of milk. The project intends to digitise milking records and link them to the milch animals, thereby helping authorities monitor real milk output. The initiative is in its nascent stage and will be rolled out once the project report for digitisation of milking records is completed, Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe told The Hindu.

“We have started a project to start a portal. All the milk collection centres will have to upload their data on that portal. The portal will be made, managed and monitored by the FDA. We will have access to this data and the data of the milch animals in that region which is uploaded on NDLM. This data will be available at the back-end. It won’t be available to front-end users,” he said during an interview.

Maharashtra FDA has, over the last few months, cracked down against milk adulteration, has banned analogue paneer in the State for a year, has banned the sale of junk foods in and around schools. The FDA has conducted large number of raids across the State on restaurants, eateries, caterers’ outlets. It has also increased its testing capacity. The moves have led to some litigations too, with a few establishments claiming the action to be harsh and ‘not in adherence to the legal provisions’.

At present, it is mandatory for milk collection centres and dairies to maintain data about the milk which is accepted, and that which is rejected. “As FDA, we plan to launch a portal where the dairies will have to update this real time data on the portal. The NDLM (National Digital Livestock Mission) already has the data about milch animals. We also know the average milk output of the animals, as the farmer uploads the data on the portal. We will match the database from both these portals at the back-end. This data will not be available to the dairies or at the front end. This will help us understand and catch adulteration,” he said.

The FDA is currently in the process of preparing a project report for the digitisation bid. “The report will be submitted in a few months’ time. But, for the project to go live will take some time. It will have to be developed, tested,” he said.

“The biggest challenge for us is tracing milk to the milch animal. Unless we can do that, we will not be able to completely annihilate adulteration. It will continue to be done at a large scale. Is it possible to trace milk to milch animals? Yes. It has been done across the world,” he said while answering questions about the feasibility of the project.

Explaining the process, he said that the FDA will take help of the National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM) database. It is a digital initiative by the Government of India to manage livestock data. “In India, there is an animal tagging system in which the animal is tagged and identified. Whether it is milch animal or not, has to be updated by the farmer. this will help us understand milk production to milk consumption in totality,” he said.

Why is Tukaram Mundhe on a mission to put clean food on our plates? | Pulse Maharashtra

Why is Tukaram Mundhe on a mission to put clean food on our plates? | Pulse Maharashtra
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The Hindu

How adulteration happens

Explaining the systemic issues which lead to milk adulteration, he said, “When the farmer milks the animal, the milk has to reach the chilling centre within two hours. Once the milk is stored without chilling beyond two hours, its acidity increases. To neutralise that, adulteration starts. It is a practice that milk dairies collect only once in a day. Then what happens to the milk which is milked at night? That is how the role of neutraliser comes in and adulteration begins. To increase quality and quantity, water is added. To increase the fat content, other things are added. We need to break that cycle. If the milk is not collected at night, then it crosses the two-hour window. That is when the farmer is forced to do something about it,” he said.

In July, Maharashtra FDA issued a compliance order, asking dairies to collect milk before 8 a.m.

The FDA also wants dairies to collect milk twice. Lack of availability of sufficient chilling centres is another challenge which needs immediate address. “Once milk is chilled at less than 4°C within two hours of collection, it is safe. There is no need to add anything,” he said.