AP Officials Start Collecting Milk Samples in State to Check for Contamination
At dairy farms, they are checking whether bio-security is being followed and hygienic conditions are being maintained
Vijayawada: Teams of officials have started collecting samples of milk in AP from Wednesday to check their contamination with urea, vegetable oil, milk powder, starch, and so on.
Officials drawn from departments including food safety, animal husbandry, revenue and municipal administration are inspecting dairy farms. They are collecting samples of milk and milk by-products like curd, khova and paneer. The samples are being sent to four labs located in Hyderabad, Kakinada and Chennai, accredited to the National Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories. These labs will analyse the samples to check for contamination.
The teams plan to collect 100–150 samples per day on an average and send them to the labs for analysis. The exercise is expected to continue till the end of February and will also involve collecting samples from milk processors and vendors.
A senior official from the Food Safety department said, “Based on reports of analyses from labs, we will initiate action as per norms in case any harmful contamination is found in them.”
Animal husbandry authorities are inspecting buffaloes and cows at various dairies as well as the green grass and dry fodder that the animals are being fed, including in the East Godavari district, where deaths have occurred so far due to contaminated milk. As per preliminary reports, the inspection teams have found no contamination, except for some green grass having a little higher level of nitrates, which are not harmful either to the livestock or humans.
Authorities are finding out from milk vendors how long they store milk, the storage conditions, and whether hygiene is being followed, like properly cleaning of cans used for supplying milk. Milk vendors are being advised to wear gloves and a face mask, apart from washing their hands properly before handling the milk to avoid any contamination.
At dairy farms, they are checking whether bio-security is being followed and hygienic conditions are being maintained.
Animal Husbandry director Dr. T. Damodar Naidu said, “We are carrying out checks at dairy farms to see whether hygiene is being maintained at milk collection, storage, transport, and supply points. We are sensitising milk vendors to ensure that there is no contamination of milk by any means to safeguard the health of people.”