Packaged Milk Products in Pakistan contain melamine

Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court expressed grave concern on Wednesday when the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) chairman confirmed the mixing of melamine, besides detergents, in packed milk. The judge asked amicus curiae Barrister Sidra to collect milk samples for tests in a laboratory in London. Barrister Zafar would contribute Rs10,000 to meet expenses of sample collection.

The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) chairman on Wednesday told a bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) that various harmful substances, such as melamine and detergents, were indeed being mixed in packaged milk

The percentage of impurities includes urea, or melamine as protein booster (30 percent), substandard cooking oil (70 percent), powdered water chestnut (40 percent), unhygienic water (50 percent), formalin, a chemical used by doctors to preserve human body (35 percent), penicillin for enhancing the thickness and fragrance of milk (47 percent), hair removing powder (29 percent), zoonotic pathogens (27 percent) and other adulterants including soda bicarbonate, to improve the taste.

PSQCA had allowed the indirect mixing of 5mg melamine in each kilogramme of milk for adults and 1mg in milk for children, which could be fatal. The petitioner, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, informed the court that amazingly the Pakistan Standard Specifications for Milk, 2009, had allowed mixing of 5 mg melamine in one kg milk for adults’ consumption and 1mg in one kg milk for children. He said the PSQCA had not given a single reason why the dangerous substance like melamine, which was a kind of plastic, was allowed to be added in milk since it was proved to have been a major cause of renal failure and other deadly diseases. He said the main reason melamine was allowed to be mixed in milk was because the major chunk of natural protein was extracted from the milk before packaging and melamine was added to artificially compensate the loss of protein and thinness of milk. He cited example of China where three persons found guilty of adding melamine in milk were hanged to death.

Melamine Tolerable Daily Intake across the world are as follows

EU : 0.5 milligrams per kg of body mass per day
Canada : 0.35 mg per kg of body mass per day
US : Originally 0.63 mg but now 0.063 mg per kg of body mass per day
WHO : 0.2 mg per kg of body mass per day
China : 2.5 mg per kg in products with more than 15% milk content

As the Daily Times report says, besides melamine for increasing protein content, PQSCA provided evidence that there was formalin and certain pathogens in the milk content as well. People are paying a premium price for these products. Corporate giants are even worse than the gawala at adulteration of milk. When did our morality go the dogs?

I feel that even if conclusively proven before the court and the judgment obviously public data then, mainstream media will not create the necessary hype as they would certainly fear losing advertising money from giants such as Nestle, Haleeb Foods and Engro Foods.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah observed: “The media is directed not to report on the contents of the report submitted by Eurofins Global Cenral, Hamburg, Germany, dated February 22, 2010, till further orders. The office is directed to intimate the media accordingly.”