Milkmen and dairy farmers in Peshawar are mixing in water and harmful chemicals, reveals a report by the city’s milk testing laboratory.
“We have found traces of a chemical called Formalin,” explains Dr Masoom Shah, director at the government-run laboratory, “the chemical is known to increase the milk’s shelf life, especially when it is being brought to Peshawar from other cities.”
At hospitals, formalin is primarily used to preserve dead bodies. In other instances, starch, washing detergents and chloride is used make the milk appear thicker, Shah adds.
Only one milk testing facility
It is difficult for customers to tell the difference between pure milk and the adulterated kind. Peshawar has only one milk testing laboratory that was set up in December.
Of the 100 samples collected by the lab from different shops in the city, at least 50 percent were not fit for consumption.
“These chemicals are very dangerous,” says Dr Abbas Ali, a veterinary specialist in the city, “they directly affect a person’s stomach, lungs and liver and can even cause death.”
In Peshawar, more than 50,000 litres of milk is sold every day. Residents say they are very concerned about the reports, but it is increasingly difficult to find pure milk for their children.
Naveed Qayyum, who has been advised by her doctor to take a glass of milk with her daily medication, was forced to have her milk samples cleared after reading troubling reports in the newspapers.
Meanwhile, the district administration has also crackdown down on those playing with people’s lives. This year, to date, they have impounded over 10,000 litres of raw milk.
Abdul Nabi, the Assistant Additional Commissioner, tells Geo.TV that over 50 milk vendors have been arrested, since January, while several others have been fined. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government is also drafting a law under which the punishment for milk hawkers breaking the law will be imprisoned for up to three years or/and a fine of Rs. 50,000.
“Simultaneously, we are working on establishing milk testing laboratories in the other 24 districts of the province,” says Dr Sher Muhammad, the Director General of Live Stock.
The new mayor of Peshawar has also announced Rs. 1 million for the establishment two more milk-testing labs at the Badhbher and the G.T. road areas. However, the funds have yet to be released.
—Adil Parvez is a reporter for Geo News based in Peshawar