Factory producing tainted milk sealed by SFA, owner slapped hefty fine

KARACHI: A factory producing chemically contaminated milk has been unearthed and seized after a joint raid conducted by a team of ‘Zimmadar Kaun’ and Sindh Food Authority (SFA), ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Besides uncovering the process of production and transportation of tainted milk inside the factory, Team Zimmadar Kaun also exposed the mixing of hazardous chemicals used to develop taste and preserve the adulterated milk being sold to citizens of different parts of Sindh.

When conducted tests of the milk samples by SFA laboratory experts present on the scene, the test results remained positive which confirmed mixing of hazardous substance for human health including detergent (soup), neutralisers, mastitis, sodium chloride (salt).

The experts’ team members have conducted phase-wise tests of the samples and confirmed the presence of mastitis which is usually detected after administration of steroid injection to the dairy cows. They revealed that blood particles and other hazardous substances are usually detected in the tests after the administration of such injections to dairy cows.

During the process of laboratory tests, the factory owner attempted to interrupt it, however, SFA deputy director Imtiaz Abro, who was also present along with the team on the scene, intervened and asked the factory owner to read SOP envisaged by the provincial authorities that was violated in producing the milk.

Experts said neutralizers are used to make synthetic milk for balancing the proportion of milk, whereas, sodium chloride (salt) is added to the milk for its preservation. However, no urea was detected in the samples.

Later, the SFA team also analysed the samples of frozen milk which also resulted positive.

It emerged that such factories established in Dadu, Nawabshah, Thatta and other parts of Sindh are used to freeze the chemically contaminated milk before transporting it to Karachi. The areas usually received extremely hot weather up to above 40-degree Celcius and the estimated time to transport it to the metropolis is around 8 to 10 hours.

Following the clear violations of regulations, SFA slapped fine of Rs200,000 against the factory owner and discarded a huge quantity of adulterated milk stored in liquid and icy form. The factory was also sealed by the provincial food authority until further orders.

Moreover, SFA teams have also continued crackdowns to halt the trade of tainted milk various cities across the province and sealed four shops after discarding thousands of litres of contaminated milk.

The authority imposed fine of overall Rs388,000 fine against the persons accused in selling the tained milk during the raids conducted in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpur Khan, Larkana and other parts of the province.