FSDA: 50% of paneer samples fail test in Lucknow, unfit for human consumption
This year the FSDA has collected around 103 paneer samples from various shops in the city, around 50% of them were found adulterated, says SP Singh, designated officer of FSDA, Lucknow
LUCKNOW: Ahead of the festival season, around 50% of paneer samples, collected by the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) since January 2021 in the state capital, have failed the quality standard and were found ‘unfit for human consumption’. Besides, 30% of khoya, 25% of milk and around 10% of edible oil samples also failed the quality test.
Designated officer of FSDA, Lucknow, SP Singh said, “This year the FSDA has collected around 103 paneer samples from various shops in the city, around 50% of them were found adulterated and having low fat percentage or foreign fat. Converting powdered milk into paneer is allowed but paneer must contain at least 50% fat. However, most of the shopkeepers use substandard powdered milk with low fat to earn more profit and also inject foreign fat into the paneer which gets detected in the test. This year, the FSDA will conduct special drives against adulterated sweets, khoya and edible oil from Monday.”
Last year, the FSDA had collected around 1,200 samples of various edible items from different corners of the city, out of which 42% samples failed the test, said Singh.
Meanwhile, a shopkeeper said, “Around 20 litres of milk is required to produce just 4kg of paneer, the actual cost of 1kg paneer costs over ₹330, if any shopkeeper is selling less than that then he must be compromising on quality.”
During the marriage or festive season, the demand of paneer crosses 20 tons per day and no one purchases branded paneer on such occasion. “Most paneer come from milk vendors or sweet shops, where there is no one to monitor the quality of paneer produced,” said an official of the milk producer unit.
“There is a need to regulate the sale of paneer, curd, milk and oil,” said the FSDA official.
The high amount of adulteration in edible items is a cause of worry, said Medical Director Medanta hospital Dr Rakesh Kapoor. He added, “Any adulteration in edible items affects the human health, adulterators must be given harsh punishment.”
Paneer adulteration
An official of Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation said that the country produces roughly 15 crore tonnes of milk annually. If all of it were only to be used to make paneer, the country would produce 7 lakh tones only. However, the country consumes 5 lakh tonnes of paneer annually. Since only a small percentage of milk is turned into paneer, then the million dollar question is where does this paneer come from?
The officials admitted that the local vendors make paneer from a mixture of maida, palm oil, baking powder, old discarded skimmed milk, some use detergent, bicarbonate of soda and some also use sulphuric acid which is very harmful for health.