PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench has directed the food secretary and Peshawar deputy commissioner to ensure the supply of milk to the people of the provincial capital in line with the standards set by the government.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ikramullah Khan directed the two officials to submit the progress report on the matter to the court before March 22 and adjourned until then the hearing into a petition of lawyer Mohammad Khursheed Khan against the supply of adulterated and unhygienic milk in the provincial capital.

They directed the food department’s director to appear on the next hearing to explain the steps taken by the government to ensure the supply of safe and hygienic milk in the province.

Asks govt to produce progress report on the matter by 22nd

The petitioner appeared in person, while the government was represented by additional advocate general Waqar Ahmad Khan and livestock department director Syed Masoom Shah.

The petitioner requested the court to issue directives to the administrations of different districts, especially Peshawar’s, to inspect all milk shops and conduct laboratory tests of milk on a daily basis.

He prayed the court to order the government to establish a food authority in the province on the pattern of that of Punjab and to establish mobile laboratory units in each district of the province for carrying out tests of milk.

The petitioner claimed that the Peshawar district administration had disposed of 8,000 litres adulterated milk supplied from Punjab on Jan 20 in light of the laboratory tests, which showed that limestone, cooking oil and sugarcane juice were mixed with the milk.

He claimed that around 150,000 litres milk was being supplied to Peshawar city alone and that there were no tests and inspection for it.

The petitioner said Pakistan was the fifth largest milk producing country in the world but unfortunately, the milk was adulterated making it injurious to health.

He said there were different kinds of milk used in the country, including loose milk, whose consumption was around 93 per cent; tetra pack milk with the shelf life of two to three months, and dry milk used from six months to a year.

The petitioner claimed that the adulteration of milk began at dairy farms, where administer Oxytocin injection to buffaloes for increasing milk yield from 20 to 30 per cent.

He added that after cream was separated from that milk, farmers mixed detergent with it for making it more concentrated and that to remove the bitter taste of detergent, bleach powder was added to it.

The petitioner said the milk supplied to Peshawar was not fit for human consumption.

He said the milk dealers further adulterated the milk using chemicals including formalin, hydrogen peroxide and aluminum phosphate.

The petitioner said the chemicals were used as preservatives.

He complained that there was no food regulatory authority in the province to check supply of adulterated and unhygienic milk as well as other food items including meat and poultry.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2017