Milk is a daily staple in millions of Indian homes. It goes into tea, coffee, sweets, paneer, curd and countless other foods. But what if some of that milk isn't really milk? In a recent podcast with Food Pharmer, Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe shared shocking details about an alleged milk adulteration racket. He explained how synthetic milk is allegedly made, why people do it, where it enters the supply chain, and what needs to change to stop it.
Maharashtra FDA's Big Crackdown
Since taking charge as FDA Commissioner on May 25, the department has been carrying out more than 20 inspections every day across the state. According to multiple reports, the FDA has conducted 1,131 inspections, seized food worth Rs 49.57 crore, and seized around 1.6 lakh litres of allegedly adulterated milk.
Talking about a recent investigation, IAS Mundhe said officials found what he described as "parallel production lines" for synthetic or chemical milk.
According to him, people were allegedly using skimmed milk powder, chemicals, emulsifiers that bind ingredients together, caustic soda, and even other substances, including shampoo. These ingredients were allegedly mixed using a formula to make something that looked like milk.
He said producing this alleged synthetic milk costs much less than real milk.
According to him, milk made to resemble cow's milk could cost around Rs 15 per litre to produce, and milk made to resemble buffalo-milk standards could cost around Rs 30 per litre.
Also Read: The Melody PM Modi Gifted Meloni Now Comes In A Limited-Edition Tiramisu Flavour
Since cow's milk is commonly sold for around Rs 40 to Rs 50 per litre, mixing cheaper synthetic milk with real milk can increase profits. "This is absolutely illegal and absolutely pathetic," Mundhe said during the podcast.
Mundhe said the alleged racket wasn't limited to just one place. According to the investigation, adulteration was allegedly happening at different stages at the farmer level, at milk collection centres, and at chilling centres. He said this milk was then supplied to dairies or used to make milk products.
He Wants To Make Every Drop Of Milk Traceable
Mundhe believes the biggest weapon against milk adulteration is traceability. Every drop of milk should be traceable to where it came from. According to him, unless authorities can trace milk back to its source, completely stopping adulteration will remain difficult.
He explained that milk collection centres already know which farmer supplied the milk, how many cows or buffaloes the farmer owns, and how much milk is collected. The law already requires these records to be maintained.
Mundhe said Maharashtra has started implementing stricter record-keeping, and it is already making a difference.
Technology Could Make It Even Stronger
Mundhe said digital tracking could quickly identify suspicious milk supplies.
For example, if officials know how many dairy farmers are in a village, how many animals they own and the average milk those animals produce, then they can estimate how much milk that village should normally produce each day. If the collected milk is far more than expected, it could immediately raise a red flag.
Mundhe also spoke about animal tagging under the National Digital Livestock Mission.
Also Read: Inside Mister Singh's India, The Glasgow Restaurant That Hosted Team India After Commonwealth Games
He said if tagged animals are linked with milk procurement records, authorities can verify whether the amount of milk being collected actually matches the animals producing it.
According to him, this could eliminate a large part of milk adulteration.