Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited (TCMPF) has claimed to have adopted the latest dairy technology in processing and transporting milk so that Aavin products meet the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) standards.
TOI on Friday reported about how non-installation of adequate cooling infrastructure had an adverse impact on milk quality. An audit of 10,295 samples at eight Tamil Nadu districts revealed that all of them were of poor or fair quality.
These samples, which were tested using Methylene Blue Reduction Test (MBRT), should ideally take five hours or more when reagents (dyes) are added. But all the samples got decolourised within two hours, said the report.
TCMPF in response said that the auditing was done in the year 2019 and since then it had improved the cooling infrastructure to ensure that only quality milk reached the diaries.
Usually, the bacterial content in raw milk increases due to transportation delays. To reduce this to one hour or less, the federation has installed more bulk milk coolers (BMCS). The state now has around 500 BMCS.
Quality checks are being carried out at various levels right from the procurement point at co-operative societies, reception point in BMCS and finally in diary reception points, TCMPF said in a written response on Friday.
On an average, everyday 38 lakh liters of milk are being transported by 270 vehicles from the BMCS dairies. All are taken for further processing in dairies only after the MBRT tests.
According to data presented by TCMPF, at least 540 MRBT tests are conducted every day and no milk was taken to processing if they get decolourised within one hour.
Besides this, TOl’s report also discussed the inefficient usage of Union government grants to procure cooling equipment. The report attributed this to cancellation and revision of tenders and manpower shortage during the pandemic.
TCMPF on Friday said that work order for purchase of BMCS and other cooling equipment was canceled due to the exorbitant rate quoted by the bidder and a second round of tender was notified later.
As many as 504 automated milk collection units (AMCU) and 216 data processing and milk collection unit (DPMCU) were commissioned in January 2020.
