Hearing a petition against the sale of substandard milk, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on September 16 ordered chemical examination of all domestic and international brands of packed milk available in the market. The court ordered the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore and the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) to carry out this exercise and report results to the court within a month.

The petition filed by Barrister Zafarullah Khan of Watan Party carried the plea that the packed milk shall also be checked. It was not only the loose milk that was adulterated, the petition maintained.

The petitioner also complained that the citizens were being fed poison in the form of steroid injection administered to buffaloes for boosting milk production and hazardous feed given to broiler chicken to hasten their growth. He also lamented the fact that there was not even a single laboratory in the country that could detect the presence of all such chemicals in milk.

The issue has assumed immense importance as it is directly related to health, especially that of the children whose main dietary intake is milk.

Besides, the raids by Punjab Food Authority (PFA) Director Ayesha Mumtaz on two milk processing plants within the jurisdictional limits of Lahore that were using harmful additives and quantity enhancers strengthen the apprehensions about such malpractices in this sector. These two milk processing plants were sealed as it was observed that they were not purchasing milk from farmers but rolling out huge stocks of packaged milk. It was suspected they were using whey powder, imported dry milk, vegetable fat etc to give their product the look of pure milk.

This situation has led to several questions such as why there is a major difference between the quantity of milk procured by milk processing companies from farmers and that supplied to the markets. How this additional supply is ensured? What are the mechanisms available to detect use of detergents, whey powder etc in milk samples? If powdered milk is used widely, then why the government is not increasing the rate of import duties to check this practice and protect the farmers.

TNS posed these questions to the Pakistan Dairy Association (PDA) and received replies from its spokesman. He categorically denies the impression about the difference in the quality of milk collected and processed for sale. He says the industry sells what it collects and there is no compromise on the quality of milk. He declares the dairy sector is very strict about this and the packaged milk is 100 per cent pure and safe for human consumption. Besides, he says, no quantity enhancer is used by the sector.

The spokesman points out that only six per cent of the total production in the country is being processed by the industry and the rest is sold in the traditional markets. By this he implies such malpractices may be common only there.

Muhammad Khalid, a progressive farmer in Southern Punjab, suspects use of different ingredients by companies to increase the quantity of milk. He says some companies have even stopped collecting milk for Rs35 per litre from farmers. This, he says, may be for the reason that a litre of milk produced from imported powdered milk costs around Rs 25 to Rs 28 per litre.

He questions as to why the government has kept import duties low on powdered milk that are many times higher in India and other milk producing countries. When the dependence of milk processing industry increases on imported products, he says, the farmers cap production of milk from their cattle by feeding them less.

Mohsin Bhatti, Founder and President of Consumer Solidarity System -- an NGO working on consumer rights -- is assisting the SCP in this regard. He says though the PDA denies existence of such practices the question is how it can defend the two companies sealed by the PFA.

"Only these two plants were raided by PFA as it cannot operate outside Lahore and both were found guilty of selling adulterated milk," he says and adds, "hundreds of bags of expired powdered milk were recovered from there and the production sheet pasted there had no record of milk purchased from the market. One of these companies even claims selling desi ghee produced from buffalo milk."

Bhatti says as the apex court has asked for checking of samples of all the milk processing companies, the situation will become clear. Earlier, most of these have remained unchecked by PFA due to certain constraints.

Amid these allegations, the PDA spokesman claims the dairy sector checks the milk it produces through 26 plus quality tests that include Organoleptic, APT, Clots on boiling, pH, Acidity, Neutraliser/Carbonates/Bicarbonates, Sodium, BR value, Starch, Glucose, Formalin, Sugar, Urea, Sorbitol, Protein, Antibiotics, SNF, SNF / Fat Ratio Ammonium Sulphase / Ammonium Nitrogen, Boric Acid, Hydrogen per Oxide, Whey Protein, Milk Temperature when collected, TPC, Dirt, Dye Reduction (MBRT) etc.

The packaged milk, he says, has all the necessary information on the pack including ingredients, net weight, batch code, manufacturing and expiry dates and there is nothing extra added to it. On the import duty on powdered milk, he says the government has already increased it from 20 per cent to 25 per cent and also levied 20 per cent regulatory duty on its import.

The issue taken up by the SCP is not new and has been in the news for long. A study titled "Chemical composition and detection of chemical adulteration in tetra pack milk samples commercially available in Multan" published in scientific journals in 2014 pointed out presence of harmful components in milk in eight popular brands. It points out presence of a number of chemical adulterants, formalin, cane sugar, starch, glucose, ammonium sulphate, salt, pulverised soap, detergents, skim milk powder, benzoic acid, salicylic acid, borax, boric acid and alkalinity in these milk samples.

Waqar Ahmad, Spokesperson and Head of Corporate Affairs at Nestlé Pakistan, defends his organisation against such claims. He tells TNS that with 460 million litres of fresh milk collected locally, Nestlé Pakistan is by far the largest collector and processor of fresh milk in the country. "From that, we sell roughly 225 million litres of milk annually, while the remainder of the collected fresh milk is used for other dairy products, a small portion of which is being exported."

He denies presence of any harmful ingredients and states their packaged milk is sold under brand names Nestle Milk Pak and Nestle Nesvita and does not contain any preservatives or harmful chemicals. The extended shelf-life of the product, he says, goes back to the Ultra Heat Treatment (UHT) process the company applies, a well-established process that is used around the world, he adds.

Ahmed shares their equipment can detect adulterants like aflatoxin, antibiotics, oxytocin, sodium, formalin, urea and melamine to name a few. "We run a total of 27 tests before the fresh milk is received in the factories for processing. Around 16 tests are carried out on each batch of the finished product before it is allowed to leave the factory. There are 29 other tests that are carried out randomly by the Nestlé Quality Assurance Centre in Singapore throughout the year."

On the quality assurance process during milk collection, he says, since its inception in the 1980s Nestlé Pakistan has had a close relationship with the dairy farmers that supply them milk. The company also employs a team of professional agronomists and agriculture assistants who educate the 150,000 farmers they collect milk from and provide them with technical assistance and veterinary services. "To ensure milk purity before procurement, we have established 30 well-equipped field labs in our milk shed," he adds.

Naseem Sadiq, Secretary Livestock, Government of Punjab says they do not want to discourage the milk processing companies and only want them to let the people know how much fresh milk they are buying from farmers and how much they are selling. If they are not using 100 per cent fresh milk in production of their product, then they must make their formula public, he demands.

He says it is very strange that despite rapid increase in population and demand of milk, the volume of fresh milk purchased by these companies has come down to one quarter of what they would purchase in 2011. He raises the questions why is it so that around 1100 chillers reached scrap markets over the years and travelling from Lahore to Bahawalpur one finds a large number of tankers and chillers lying on the floor. "Is it for the reason that milk processing companies have stopped buying fresh milk and these containers have become redundant?"

The secretary shares with TNS that samples of packed milk have been collected thrice in the past on the orders of the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the findings showed presence of harmful substances which was published in renowned science journals. He says the district government even sent samples of milk to Germany and paid Rs 2 million to cover the cost of tests that proved these allegations.

Though these results could not lead to formulation of comprehensive policies at that time, it is hoped this time this matter will be settled for public good, he concludes.