Polypacked Full Cream Milk: Safety and Quality Concerns

India, being an agricultural country, relies heavily on milk and dairy products produced by millions of agriculturalists. As the largest producer and consumer of milk globally, India sees about 46% of its milk consumed in liquid form. Despite this, many consumers still prefer buying loose milk from vendors, believing it to be fresher. However, due to rising concerns about milk adulteration with substances like water, vegetable oils, detergents, caustic soda, urea, starch, blotting paper, and even white paint, urban consumers are increasingly shifting to branded packaged milk.

Consumer Voice conducted a comprehensive study on 12 popular brands of polypacked full cream milk sold across Indian cities to assess their quality and safety.

Key Findings

• Microbial Safety: All brands were found microbiologically unsafe for consumption due to high levels of microbial count, including total plate count, coliform count, and yeast & mold count. Mother Dairy was the exception, passing the coliform test.
• Pathogen-Free: All brands were free from harmful pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella, and Listeria Monocytogenes.
• Fat Content: Most brands met the minimum fat content requirement of 6%.
• Milk Solids Not Fat (SNF): Amul, Paras, DMS, Milkam, and Verka did not meet the minimum SNF requirements.
• Organoleptic Properties: Parag was found most acceptable in terms of color, appearance, odor, flavor, and body.

Brands Tested

Consumer Voice tested 12 popular brands of full cream polypacked milk but could not rank them as all failed in the total plate count and coliform tests.

Why Full Cream Milk?

The focus on full cream polypacked milk was to evaluate its quality and inherent properties like fat and SNF, which should resemble those of fresh and unadulterated milk.