Mumbaiites, two minutes and ₹60 is all it takes to find out if the milk you bought is safe to drink

A milk adulteration test, set to enter the Mumbai market soon, will change colours depending on what adulterants it detects

How can you be sure that the milk you have bought from a neighbourhood store is safe to drink? A small strip of paper, coated with chemicals, is all it takes.

FDA officials and scientists will demonstrate how the strip works to Girish Bapat, minister for food and civil supplies, next week. (HT Photo)

The milk adulteration strip, developed by the state unit of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), changes colour to indicate if the milk has been adulterated. It will be available in the market in the next three months. Each strip will cost anywhere between Rs50 to Rs60.

To test milk, just add two drops of it to the centre of the strip. It will change colour at both ends depending on the adulterant. The white strip, which resembles a litmus paper, will turn from yellow to red to indicate the presence of urea, while it will change from white to brown to show glucose. A change from yellow to brown indicates salt.

“This is a revolutionary answer to the problem of milk adulteration in our country. All those who want to ensure that the milk their family is consuming doesn’t have synthetic or hazardous elements, will be able to check the quality of milk in two minutes,” said FDA commissioner Dr Harshdeep Kamble, who worked with scientists to develop the tester.

FDA officials and scientists will demonstrate how the strip works to Girish Bapat, minister for food and civil supplies, next week. “When we informed the minister about the product, he was keen on it being introduced to the market,” said Dr Kamble.

Dr Jayant Khandare, director and scientist, Right To Research, Pune, which developed the tester, told HT it was a challenge “to make something innovative at an affordable cost”.

“We found that major milk adulterants were urea, salt, glucose, H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) and starch. The group developed strips that could be used to detect adulterants in milk in multiple channels simultaneously,” he said.

“The colour changes at both ends. We call this ‘simultaneous detection’. This will give us a double confirmation that the test isn’t false or negative,” said Khandare.