Solution

Strip Based Milk Testing Kit

A lot of work has already been carried out in detection of adulteration and quality in milk, often more than one test to be employed to confirm the purity of milk.Variety of milk adulteration testing kits are available commercially in ready to test solution/reagent form. Some of these reagents are risky to be handled by an unskilled person. Transporting and testing of these test kits in field areas by any unskilled person is difficult. Chemically to detect urea, caustic soda, starch/ glucose, dirty water or nitrate etc. at home for the consumers particularly for house wives is very difficult. However, none of these testing kits are in ready to use strip form and are unsuitable for testing in the any field conditions.

Unique Strips

Looking at the concerns, worries and possibilities, Defence Food Research Laboratory – DFRL has come up with an innovative concept of Milk Adulteration Test Strips First time in India. An idea of developing ready to use, convenient, cost effective and easy to handle test strips to detect the chemical adulterants and to establish the freshness of milk as per user requirements. Use of test strips is very handy and never raises problem of spilling of chemical or reagents to the users. It has the ease of application from household to field level use of services.

Milk Testing – Visual Observation and Interpretation Chart

India is on No. 1 position amongst the nations in the field of milk production. Despite massive increase in the production of milk, illicit production of the synthetic milk has emerged as the biggest problem to the milk producing industry. As a result of which, the confidence of the general consumers is waning from the dairy industry. People are now reluctant to consume the dairy products. It is of paramount importance to soon find the solutions to this raging problem, since the dairy industry occupies an important place in the Indian rural economy and attached with the industry are crores of milk producing farmers including the consumers as well.

What is milk adulteration / synthetic milk / artificial milk?

Synthetic milk is entirely a different component with a high degree of adulteration to increase the volume of milk and thereby the profits. From the natural milk received from cows and buffaloes, cream, butter and fat are separated using the cream separator machine. To make this cream-less milk again creamy, urea, detergent, caustic soda, starch oil, glucose, shampoo, hydrogen peroxide, etc are mixed, thus making it synthetic milk. A peculiar type of uneasiness pervades the people these days pertaining to the matter of synthetic/artificial milk. This milk has headed its journey from cities to villages now.

Harms caused by the use of synthetic milk

According to physicians, use of synthetics milk inflicts very serious harms on human body causing swelling in the eyes and complications in liver and kidney. Apart from this, synthetic milk proves deadly for pregnant women and patients suffering from conditions of heart ailment and high blood pressure. What is worse is that this synthetic milk is extremely poisonous for small children. Continuous use of the synthetic milk turns the human body into farm house of diseases. Synthetic milk is a slow poison which though does not kill at once, but it slowly makes the body a fertile ground for diseases.

Supreme Court Ruling

Supreme Court on Tuesday 14, November 2014 asked the Government to inform the steps taken by it to incorporate in the Food Safety and Standards Act provisions to curb the sale of adulterated milk, including synthetic milk, causing serious injuries to the health of the people including innocent children.