ISLAMABAD: Milk is one of the main source of calcium, which is required for the stability of teeth, gums and bones. But the availability of pure milk has become almost impossible.

This was stated by District Health Officer (DHO) Islamabad Mohammad Tahir while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) on Tuesday.

“Recently, we launched a campaign against substandard and contaminated milk and checked 70,000 litres of milk out of which 36,000 litres was destroyed as it was contaminated,” he said.

The official said once sellers used to mix water in milk to get more profit but nowadays detergents, chemicals, powder etc., are being mixed with milk to maintain its viscosity, colour and smell.

Mr Tahir said there were issues with both unpacked and packed milk.

Children to elderly people are facing problems of teeth and bones because of a lack of calcium in their bodies as they are not getting pure milk, he said.

Official says earlier sellers used to mix water with milk but now they are using detergents and chemicals to maintain viscosity, colour and smell of milk

“Currently, we are getting substandard milk from Rawat and Tarnol. We have issued notices to 208 milk sellers and arranged 1,317 lectures to create awareness among the citizens about the quality of milk,” he said.

Committee Chairman Sajjad Hussain Turi said a centre should be established to check all the milk coming to the federal capital before allowing its sale.

Senator Noman Wazir said the contract for the supply of milk in the city should be given to one private company so it would check it before selling. The company should also be made accountable in case of any complaint.

The committee decided to hold another meeting on the one-point agenda of milk.

Poultry products

Discussing the issue of poultry products, Dr Tahir said because of the use of steroids in the poultry feed, chicken had become very dangerous for consumers, especially children.

Senator Ashok Kumar said because of the currently available feed, hens cannot survive more than eight weeks.

Dr Tahir told Dawn that tea whiteners did not have nutritional value of milk and the government had very rightly decided to mention on the packets that they were tea withers.

He said the citizens can also check the quality of milk by lactometer which costs only a couple of thousand of rupees.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2017