New Delhi: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has busted a major milk adulteration racket in Navi Mumbai. The racket was allegedly being operated in the
Mahape MIDC area. Officials said that they have seized and destroyed adulterated dairy products worth lakhs of rupees.
The Thane District Administration said that a special FDA squad raided M/s PK Dairy on August 19, based on intelligence reports, regarding adulterated milk and milk products being sold here. During the raid, the FDA officials caught a person allegedly diluting milk inside a tanker with a mixture of skimmed milk powder (SMP) and chilled water. He was identified as Shivendra Shyamlal Jaiswal. He along with the dairy owner, Pradeep Kamlesh Yadav has been arrested.
In a press release, the district administration said that 1 kg of skimmed milk powder was mixed with around 8 to 10 litres of water. This mixture was then used to adulterate the milk. The milk was supplied to several dairies in Thane, Airoli, Kopri, Digha, and Ghansoli. The sellers used to market it as pure cow or buffalo milk.
The officials have ordered the closure of the dairy, for operating without a proper food safety license, reported PTI. The officials also destroyed over 4,000 litres of adulterated and suspect milk and seized 129.5 kg of paneer, 473 kg of skimmed milk powder, and 88.4 kg of cream. The milk destroyed was valued at Rs 1,85,780. The officials said that the move was to protect the public’s health.
An FIR has been registered against 15 individuals and entities involved in the racket. The FIR was filed at the Turbhe police station on August 22. Apart from the owners of the 2 dairies raided, several other outlets which received and sold their products have also been booked. The process to cancel the licenses of all of these vendor outlets is currently underway.
