The new regulations will enforce standards for milking practices, animal health, and milk handling, aiming to reduce adulteration.
The food regulator has issued standard operating procedures for primary milk producers, including small dairy units which are not part of dairy cooperative societies, in order to check milk contamination and adulteration.
The SOPs notified by the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) are on sanitary and hygiene requirements, environment and hygiene, milk production and food safety measures such as handling, storage and transportation of milk.
This comes in the backdrop of an increasing number of cases of adulteration in milk and milk products.
The new rules will come into force 60 days after receiving suggestions from the stakeholders from the date of issuance of notification on 3 October.
Primary production of milk refers to the practice where milking machines are not generally used, the raw milk is not chilled at the producer’s level or the raw milk is transported in cans to the consumers.
Protocols specified
Specified protocols include clean, well-ventilated cow sheds, good housing and manure disposal systems, and proper water and feed for the cows and buffaloes & other dairy animals. Dairy operators have been told to follow guidelines for environmental management of dairy farms and gaushala issued by local authorities.
The draft notification states that milking areas should be kept free of “undesirable animals” such as pigs and poultry whose presence may result in the contamination of milk. The natural process of milking shall be followed. Forceful milking with “inhumane practices” like oxytocin are prohibited. Adequate management measures should be implemented to prevent animal diseases, it said.
“The milk should originate from animals free from systemic diseases whose causative agents such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Coxiella burnetti, Brucella abortus, can be transmitted to man through milk. The animals should also be free from bacterial diseases such as salmonellosis, anthrax, shigellosis, enteropathogenic E.Coli, Streptococcus and viral infections such as vaccinia, pseudo cowpox, louping ill (Tick borne encephalitis), food & mouth diseases etc. Milk should be drawn from animals that do not show visible impairment of the general state of health and which are not suffering from any infection of the genital tract with discharge, enteritis with diarrhoea and fever, or recognizable inflammation of the udder,” said the notification dated 3 October.
Milk should be distributed to the consumers within 3-4 hours of milking from such dairies, failing which the milk is to be stored in suitable refrigeration at 4-6 °C or taken to a processing facility within 4 hours of milking.
Queries sent to the health ministry spokesperson remained unanswered till press time.
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