Nasim Sadiq Hints At Complaint Cell For Milk Adulteration

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Jan, 2017 ) : Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Department Secretary Nasim Sadiq said on Wednesday that a complaint cell would soon be established to address complaints of milk adulteration.

Addressing a seminar on 'Milk Adulteration' jointly organized by Livestock Department and Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here at the LCCI, he added that on the pattern of meat tracker number and help line 9211, the department was also working on issuing tracker number for milk enabling consumer to know that from where milk, they purchased, was produced.

Nasim Sadiq said demands of milkmen were being assessed and their genuine problems would be resolved. He mentioned that a direct link between milkmen and consumers would be established to abolish the role of middle-man, who was actually responsible for hike in milk price and adulteration.

The secretary said the provincial government was making all out efforts for development of livestock farming as growth of this sector would result in overall growth of GDP. A large component of Punjab's population depended upon farming and the government wanted to guarantee their prosperity by providing them facilities associated with livestock and dairy sector.

Experts and other speakers as well as the participants were agreed that milk adulteration should be tackled with an iron hand. Despite being 4th largest milk producing country with annual production of 42 million tones, it was a matter of concern that country was still faced with menance of milk adulteration, they added.

They suggested that strict action should be taken against adulterators, who were putting precious human lives and soft image of the country at stake.

The speakers said that phenomenon of adulteration of food, particularly of milk had become one of the most serious problems in the country.

Dangerous ingredients like detergent, foreign fat, starch, sodium hydroxide, caustic soda, sugar, urea, pond water, salt, sodium carbonate, formalin and ammonium sulphate were being used for making of counterfeited milk.

LCCI President Abdul Basit said that judiciary deserved appreciation for taking notice of milk adulteration that was a crime against humanity. Those elements should be taken to the justice who were playing with human lives besides tarnishing soft image of Pakistan in comity of nations, he maintained.

Abdul Basit said that Pakistan should avail full advantage of the God-gifted resources in dairy and livestock sectors, asserting that there was an urgent need for development of commercial processing plant in highly milk-producing areas of Pakistan as it would increase milk processing capacity up to 97 per cent instead of existing 5 to 8 per cent.

He said that commercial processing plants would also help provision of adulteration-free milk. LCCI Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan urged the government to establish dairy research institute for development of dairy and dairy products that would contribute considerably to national exports.

Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC) Principal Dr. Mehmood Shaukat, Jinnah Hospital ENT Chairman Dr. Rashid Zia, renowned Nutritionist Ms. Jawaria Mahmood, Smart school System Lahore Principal Ms Hina Bader, LCCI Executive Committee Members Mian Zahid Javed, Shah Rukh Jamal, former EC Khawaja Khawar Rasheed, Zafar Mahmood and Haji Muhammad Akram also addressed the seminar.