MULTAN, Aug 26: The use of chemicals and urea fertiliser in milk to increase its fat and volume by the middleman at milk collection centres of private companies is injurious to health, say doctors.

The consumption of packaged milk spiked with chemicals can cause high blood pressure, cardiac problems, premature births, nephritis and kidney related problems.

The government, however, has failed to check the practice thus giving an open field to packaged milk producers to promote their business in urban areas.

Those involved in milk collection use hair removing chemicals, low quality oils, urea fertiliser, glucose, sugar, dry milk and slat in loose and unpasteurised milk for better viscosity and fat percentage.

Milk consumption increases from May to August when the production of milk decreases.

A middleman supplying loose milk to a private company in Mianchunnu said the prices of loose milk escalated in the summer and milk collection centres had no other option except for buying man’s first food overlooking its quality.

He admitted that he added urea, oil and hair removing chemicals in milk. He claimed that these artificial adulterations did not harm human life after the processing and pasteurisation.

Dawn learnt that no such a company had installed any equipment at their collection centres to gauge adulterations in milk and staffers did not follow any standard. They put milk collected from a particular area in a chiller. They, however, say that before putting the milk into a chiller, they check the quality of milk through various tests.

Nishtar Hospital physician Shahid Hameed said that even after pasteurisation at high temperature, the adverse effects of contraband items remained intact.

He said abnormal growth, nervous disorder in babies, diseases of joints, kidneys and high blood pressure stemmed from adulterated packaged milk.

District Health Officer (pure food wing) Dr Ghazanfar Abbas Dharrala said he had not received any complaint about adulterated packaged milk.

He said that after the companies bought the milk, it was their headache to check its quality.