Spurious milk products flood Diwali market http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/spurious-milk-products-flood-diwali-market/373387/
Vishnu Pandey / New Delhi/ Kanpur October 16, 2009 In the backdrop of the ongoing festive season, the business of manufacturing and supplying synthetic milk and milk products to the city dwellers and even to the neighbouring states is growing by the day. The manufacturers are minting millions by endangering the health and life of citizens, as the racket continues to flourish despite a number of raids by the health officials. According to an estimate, at least 100,000 litres of synthetic milk and 30 tonnes of thickened milk (khoya) is being manufactured everyday in the city. The racketeers use refined oil, white poster colours, some milk, caustic soda and formalin as solvent to manufacture the poisonous ‘milk’. They also use low quality refined oil, wheat flour, rice bran and chemical colours to lend an attractive look to the products. According to medical officers, over 17 people indulging in the illegal manufacture were arrested and imprisoned while the search for further culprits was still on. Diwali spoiler: Lid off spurious sweets racket http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&issueid=111&id=66344&Itemid=1§ionid=114&secid=141 Arun Singh & Harish Sharma Meerut, October 14, 2009 Your Diwali sweets may be yum, but are they safe? Authorities have seized at least 30,000 kg of adulterated sweets or their ingredients in the past one week, exposing an elaborate racket thriving in north India this festive season. Massive hauls Officials said around 8,000 kg of adulterated khoya was confiscated from Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar. Another 4,000 kg meant for Delhi and Noida was seized by the police in Ghaziabad. Approximately 1,000 kg of contaminated khoya was recovered from Jabalpur and 7,000 kg from Indore. The stocks of adulterated sweets seized too are alarming - around 6,000 kg from Ludhiana and 2,000 kg from Patiala. In Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, shop-owners clashed with police when a van full of adulterated khoya was seized. Delhi on alert, says minister The spurious items were on way to shops in Delhi and other cities ahead of Diwali. Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia said the government was cracking down on the adulterated supplies with a heavy hand. "We have put SDMs on duty at all entry points to the Capital. Over 100 raids have been carried out in the last three days," Walia said. Inside the khoya factories Headlines Today went to a dairy in Meerut to investigate and found the khoya used in preparing sweets lying in a pool of mulch full of ants. "Absolutely pure khoya is not being made these days," said Satish, the cook at the dairy. "We make it only as per demand." Usually, thickened milk is used to make khoya. But in this dairy, inexpensive milk powder was being lumped in to double the produce. Further, refined oil was being used to smoothen the texture of khoya - almost 10 litres of oil for 50 kg of khoya. Chemicals, synthetic colours and a bit of pure ghee were also put to give the khoya the right colour and scent and avoid suspicion. "Nobody makes pure khoya these days. It doesn't sell," said Rajkumar, another cook, backing Satish's claim. "Even in the 'pure' variety, about 25 kg of adulterated ingredients are put in around 75 kg of milk." Adulterated sweets are a huge business during the festive season as the consumption is high and the profit margin big. A kilogram of milkcake that one may buy for Rs 250 can be prepared for just Rs 55 using adulterated ingredients. "A lot of semolina is being mixed in the milk cake," said Liyakat Ali at another sweets factory in Meerut. The milk cake he was producing had no milk. "We use milk powder. Where will one get so much milk from? Anyone claiming to use milk is lying," claimed Ali, who makes around 300-400 kg of adulterated milkcakes. Health hazards Consuming adulterated sweets can invite serious health problems. "One could suffer from food poisoning or problems in the gastro-intestinal system, such as vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. If the milk is adulterated, one could develop esophageal strictures," said Dr Neelam Mohan, hepatologist. The urea used to make contaminated khoya and synthetic milk can affect the heart, liver and kidneys. Adulterated oil used in the sweets can cause dropsy. Synthetic colours can lead to diarrhoea or even paralysis and cancer. Warning issued in India over milk-based sweets http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/10/15/india-milk-warning-factory-synthetic-diwali.html October 15, 2009 CBC News Workers carry sweets at a shop in Ahmadabad, India. Diwali, the festival of lights will be celebrated on Oct. 17 amid concerns in some regions about tainted milk products. (Ajit Solanki/Associated Press) Doctors in northern India are warning residents to avoid eating dairy-based sweets during a major Hindu festival this weekend after police raided two factories and found them using detergent and animal fat in the manufacture of milk and milk products. The warning comes as India prepares for Diwali, the festival of lights, on Saturday, when residents are expected to consume and give gifts of sweets, many of which are made from milk products. Police said 28 people were arrested in raids Wednesday in two towns in Uttar Pradesh state, and about 1,000 litres of synthetic milk were seized. "Milk products manufactured from urea, caustic soda and animal fat were recovered from two makeshift factories," said police official Brij Lal. N.C. Khanna, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, said the synthetic milk is prepared by mixing the organic compound urea with caustic soda, cheap cooking oil, water and a common detergent. The detergent emulsifies and dissolves the oil in water and creates a frothy white solution that looks like milk. The blend is then added to natural milk before it is sold, he said. Doctors say the synthetic milk is carcinogenic and urea and caustic soda are harmful to the heart, liver and kidneys. Caustic soda, found in oven and drain cleaners, is particularly harmful even in small doses and could prove fatal for people suffering from hypertension and heart ailments, according to Dr. Lalit Saxena, a scientist at Biomab Pharmaceuticals Private Ltd, in Goa, India. "Please do not eat sweets this Diwali. Avoid them as there is no guarantee of its purity," said Dr. D.P. Mishra of the state-run Balrampur Hospital in Lucknow. Last November six children died and more than 60 fell ill after drinking adulturated milk in a state school in eastern India. The news comes about 13 months after a Chinese dairy recalled hundreds of tonnes of baby formula in one of country's worst food safety scandals. Milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine killed at least six babies and sickened almost 300,000 others with painful kidney stones.With files from The Associated Press
