Anti-fortified milk campaign: FSSAI show-causes Amul

Food regulator FSSAI on Wednesday said it has sent notices to dairy major Amul for "disparaging" the fortified milk segment. It can be noted that while the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been spearheading milk fortification and Amul though it has fortified two products, has reservations against the synthetic fortification of milk and the limits for the same.

"We have issued them (Amul) a notice, they have to respond to that," the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) chief executive Pawan Agarwal told reporters when asked whether the authority has issued a notice to the largest dairy brand on this campaign. Asking Amul not to create confusion he said, "Amul says we don't want to do it, so don't do it. Why do you have to go out and disparage the entire sector and create confusion among the public?".

Fortification is a complementary strategy to fight malnutrition under which the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, zinc, vitamins A & D to staple foods such as rice, wheat, oil, milk and salt are done to improve their nutritional content. About 36.6 per cent of milk in the country is currently being fortified according to FSSAI.

"One of the biggest concerns for us today is the safety and quality of processed milk that is coming from big names, including Amul. There is a large amount of aflatoxin found in many of the big dairy milk," Agarwal said. The levels are still not a huge matter of concern and they are coming from primary production. In that case at the back end these dairies in organised sector will have to work with the farmers so that the feed is safe, Agarwal added..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)