Click to play videoMumbai: If your morning cup of tea tastes a bit different, it has reason to be.
A late night raid by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has blown the lid on a milk adulteration racket.
The FDA has found huge quantity of milk packets being offloaded on the western express highway by the milk distribution vendors for adulteration.
"The taste is definitely different than earlier. You realise that when you make tea," said Shobha Nanewag, a Mumbai resident.
"It tastes like water – milk should be sweet, but it’s not like that these days," said another Mumbai resident Smita.
It’s true that branded milk is no better than the tabela milk since its being adulterated rampantly.
Some trucks were intercepted on the western express highway near Kandivali after the Food and Drug Administration found crates of milk being offloaded at unlicensed sites.
Offloaded milk packets were all set to reach nearby slums and adulterated with water for distribution in the city.
Over 10,000 Milk packets of all leading dairies like Mahananda, Amul and Gokul were seized by the FDA before it could be adulterated.
"Milk dairies unload packets at night at unauthorised places. Slum dwellers adulterate it and sell it to nearby homes," said FDA Assistant Commissioner in Maharashtra C B Pawar.
But leading milk dairies deny involvement in the adulteration racket. They say they have no role to play once the milk leaves their premises.
"We cannot do anything beyond a point. The distributors are responsible for this. They are the ones who are allowing adulteration," said Greater Mumbai Milk Scheme GM V A Gaikwad.
The FDA has detained five men including the street vendor, driver and the suppliers of the dairies.
FDA is also contemplating action against the dairies for offloading milk crates at unlicensed locations.
(With inputs from Praveen Mishra and Deborah Grey)
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