Health & Fitness Samples of Mother Dairy and Amul found to be of substandard quality

iPwnz

Brutally Honest
Skilled
Samples of prominent milk brands such as Mother Dairy and Amul have been found to be of substandard quality, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain today said, asserting that such violations would attract strict penalties.

He said 21 samples of milk, out of the total 165 tested, including of these two prominent brands, were found to be of substandard quality.

"We have taken a total of 177 samples across Delhi, including branded and local products. Reports of 165 have come out, and out of these, 21 samples (including Mother Dairy and Amul) have failed for their substandard quality, which does not mean they are unsafe," Jain told reporters.

He said the term substandard could mean two things. One is fake (unsafe) and the other one is where it does not meet the prescribed requirement (safe, but falls short of some content, like fats for example), he said.

Most of the failed samples, during this drive, were found to be adulterated with milk powder, he added.

"If (the sample is) unsafe, like a sample that was found unsafe in ghee, there can be imprisonment from six months to three years," he said.

A Mother Dairy spokesperson said, "We are yet to receive the findings of the samples tested by the authorities. Hence, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

"However, we would like to state that each batch of Mother Dairy milk undergoes stringent quality tests at four levels to ensure safe and quality milk is made available for consumption," the spokesperson said.

In addition, they recently received Quality Mark certification for all polypack milk variants sold in Delhi- NCR to ensure the consumers of 100 per cent conformance to the prescribed norms, the spokesperson said in a statement.

Amul Managing Director R S Sondhi said, "Still the details and official report is not available, what is mentioned is not defective but substandard (variation), which means fat or protein may have varied.

"In Amul, we maintain higher standards than that recommended by the FSSAI, so variation (substandard) is not possible. However while sampling or testing if proper care and process is not fully follwed, such variation may occur. We shall await the detailed report and then can give a complete reply," Sondhi said.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/b...ndard-quality-satyendra-jain-2563179.html/amp

And I thought Mother Diary was the best diary company in India. :(

Anyway, has anyone here tried Milk Mantra products?
They sell only in neighbouring states. They don't do long distance shipping either. When I asked they told me "they have a short shelf-life." Theirs seem very good.
 
Last edited:
Its better to opt for local brands as they pack their cows milk freshly nearby than these powdered branded ones which get transported over distance.
 
Its better to opt for local brands as they pack their cows milk freshly nearby than these powdered branded ones which get transported over distance.
It actually had one local brand. I didn't quote that particular part in the article.
"The drive, which started on April 13, also took three samples of ghee for testing, and found one, of a local brand, "unsafe", the minister said."

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/b...bstandard-quality-satyendra-jain-2563179.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Today finding anything adulteration free is tough though not impossible. So may be you trust amul since yrs and suddenly it is surrounded by controversies about tampering, adulteration and unsafe consumption etc. And then you get into sudden shock and start blaming the brand for health issues you faced etc. You change the brand then. Thats human psychology.

If the brand was unsafe since ages and still you consume it happily blind minded and no issues caused and the controversies arent out then what??
 
I found Amul to be the least adulterated milk brand available in Hyderabad. Most popular and local brands are adulterated during transport itself if not at the dairies.

However, Amul is loosing its sheen of quality products ever since BJP politicians wrested control of it.
 
I found Amul to be the least adulterated milk brand available in Hyderabad. Most popular and local brands are adulterated during transport itself if not at the dairies.

Yes, Amul milk is least adulterated, 3 years back when they started selling in Hyderabad, We used it for an year and still use it occasionally.
Also try Tirumala milk, Excellent unadulterated milk. Heritage is okayish and Avoid jersey, Govardhan Etc.

State owned diary Vijaya has also never let us down. Its always good.

Now we rely on Local milkman, he clearly accepts they mix some amount of water but never use those Urea/Starch or other Injections. The milk is tastier than all the available Milk brands.
 
Heritage is the most adulterated brand and its done during transport. Its obvious even when you look at the packets that they were opened and resealed. No need to even taste the milk. Used to have Tirumala milk delivered earlier, but now shifted to Amul.
 
Yes, I guess so. Its done during the transport phase.so it doesn't matter who you buy it them. They open the packets to take out some of the milk and reseal the packets after adulteration. In many cases, you will be able to notice the sloppy resealing job at one of the corners.
 
Seems like none of the diary brands can be trusted lol. Might as well get my own cow now and employ someone to look after it like I do with my eggs.
 
there is a huge difference in milk quality depending on what you feed the cows as well as breed ofc.
I would beg to differ. Unless you are buying directly from a small time dairy farmer, the packed milk has same formula as defined by the govt which defines different levels of fat and SNF for different categories of milk.
It is achieved by mixing and homogenization of all the milk these co-operatives collect. They first take out all the fat and then add it back later depending upon how much milk they require of each category.
 
Mass milk production is a complex task. Quality and price has to be balanced.

Most diary farms, at least the commercial ones, get milk from far off villages. Now this milk has a very short shelf life - in summers milk wont last till evening and winters maybe till next day. This situation gets even worse when you consider the fact that the kirana store guy can return unsold packets. So, the company has to ensure a longer shelf life of their raw products.

Additionally, prices have to be kept in check. Perishable but pure milk directly from villages might cost you above 70-80rs a liter whereas mass market demand is for 30-40rs.

So, milk producers take the excess milk, pasteurize it, take out fat and turn it into powder. This powder has a very long shelf life. It also helps the company dynamically scale the output and reduce waste.

Now each type of milk has different quality standard guided by SNF (Solid not Fats). Simplistically it is amount of milk solids vs water. For example, toned milk needs to have 8.5% in SNF ( http://dairyknowledge.in/content/types-milk)

Depending on quality and demand the milk producers mix powder, fresh milk and water to achieve required SNF. Substandard quality means that the milk doesn't meet the SNF requirement.

So, all milk packets have some amount of water and taste is not similar to real milk. If you need better quality milk better buy from local diary. But you should take a trip and look at their operations to ensure nothing untoward is happening. Local diaries can mix stuff like melamine etc to keep their prices low. Or buy the costlier full cream version.

Personally, for making tea etc I get the toned version of mother diary - cheaper but lacking in quality. For kids or special occasions I will get their costlier full cream version.

That said, if Mother Diary is substandard then it is not surprising Amul is too. Because lot of places Mother Diary is the OEM for Amul, even though they compete and sell products under their brand too.
 
Last edited:
I like the Mother Dairy Single Toned milk though we don't get it here. So we stick to Everyday milk powder.
there is a huge difference in milk quality depending on what you feed the cows as well as breed ofc.
I read in a newspaper a few years ago that the water quantity in milk also differ widely. According to that paper, Kerala had the best quality milk with least water used. And in North-East Mizoram had the best milk.
But with capitalism nowadays I'm not so sure about it. I wouldn't mind paying 50-60rs a litre for pure milk if it's of the best quality. I've started caring more about my health than I used to.
 
I like the Mother Dairy Single Toned milk though we don't get it here. So we stick to Everyday milk powder.

I read in a newspaper a few years ago that the water quantity in milk also differ widely. According to that paper, Kerala had the best quality milk with least water used. And in North-East Mizoram had the best milk.
But with capitalism nowadays I'm not so sure about it. I wouldn't mind paying 50-60rs a litre for pure milk if it's of the best quality. I've started caring more about my health than I used to.

There is prideofcows available locally in navi mumbai. They claim not to collect milk like co ops and milks only from their own cows. Milk is good but at 90 rs per liter.

During jallikattu protest few people in chennai came forward to sell milk directly from cow owners. Think it was 27 rs per liter. Not sure if it was sucessfull.
 
First, why is everyone saying DIARY ??

Did you know that humans are the only mammals that still consume milk compulsively even after they start consuming solids? Heck, even calves stop drinking milk after some stage of eating solids. If nature wanted mammals to drink milk everyday then the mother animal would continue lactating as long the child is alive.

https://www.thedailymeal.com/why-you-should-stop-drinking-milk-right-now/013014

I'm lactose intolerant. After the age when people really need milk, the body stops producing lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose. However, people who continue drinking milk regularly even as adults, find that their bodies continue to produce lactase. There are also some genetic factors to it. At a certain point i stopped consuming even small quantities of milk (i dont do tea/coffee), and soon i was lactose intolerant. I can still have very small quantities of milk without issues, ice cream is not an issue and neither is dahi/yoghurt. But if i go to a decent place and have a milkshake or even a rich cold coffee, i'm screwed. Watery cold coffee is still doable.
 
Back
Top