Govt admits to sale of adulterated milk in City

The government on Friday admitted it was aware of adulterated, contaminated or misbranded milk being sold in Bangalore City.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Aravind Limbavali, replying to a query by MLC M Srinivas (JD-S) in the Legislative Council, said that 7.35 lakh litres of milk was being supplied to Bangalore from outside the State. Of this, about 6.50 lakh litres is packet milk from private companies and 0.85 lakh litres is sold loose.

He said tests (as prescribed under the Food and Safety Standards Act, 2006) conducted by his department had revealed that milk, milk-based products and bottled water were contaminated, adulterated, unsafe, misbranded and of substandard quality.

Srinivas alleged that substandard milk from other states was being sold in Karnataka for last one decade and the government did not do anything about it.

According to Limbavali, on March 26, around 10,000 litres of milk was seized from four Tamil Nadu lorries at Kalasipalyam.

Tests showed the milk was adulterated.  Of the 35 samples taken from across the State in 2012, two samples were adulterated and one was misbranded.