Are you safe from adulterated milk?

As children, we are often told that having milk will make us stronger. And so many of us however unwillingly glugged a glass sweetened by a malt and chocolate mix. But does that advice really hold today. With rising concerns surrounding food safety, we need to relook at and be cautious about something which we consume every day. A survey revealed that more than 70 per cent of the milk consumed in India is adulterated. The kind of substances that go into the glass of milk consumed by a regular Indians are shocking to know. To enhance the volumes of milk, it is a common practice to add substances like glucose, urea and skim milk powder (SMP) to milk. You can imagine the ill effects it might have on you and your family while consuming what you think of as a healthy drink.

In spite of this, the number of people who consume loose milk is alarming. Several consumers in urban areas prefer to buy loose milk from milk vendors due to the strong perception that loose milk is fresh. What they are unaware of is the fact that loose milk is exposed to the maximum amount of contamination as it is manually handled and high standards of quality are often not met.

From water to food substances to chemicals, loose milk runs the risk of high contamination. Considering the rate at which adulteration rackets are being busted in most major cities, including ours, it is vital that we find a regular source of unadulterated milk.

Thus it is vital to protect oneself from useless worries and use a safe source of nutrition. Some of the ways of preventing this is to boil the milk to remove the bacteria but by doing so we also kill good bacteria present in the milk and reduce its nutritional value. The best option is opt for milk processed with Ultra High Temperature (UHT) technology as it is the safest and most reliable option. It clearly surpasses all other milk types in the kind of advantages it offers. In UHT technology, milk is heated at a very high temperature (135-150 degrees C) in a closed system for a few seconds, then force cooled to room temperature. This process removes all micro-organisms from milk. Flash-heating-and-cooling that is adopted in the process also substantially reduces the nutrient loss associated with conventional sterilisation.

As a result, UHT milk retains more nutritional value and exhibits more natural texture, colour and taste. The aseptic packaging provides unparalleled protection ensuring food that is pure, fresh and hygienically packaged and very difficult to tamper with.