NEXT time when you are going to drink a
glass of milk, think twice. It might be a
concoction of refined oil, caustic soda,
urea and detergent. Scientists of the
*National Dairy Research Institute at
Karnal, Haryana, have brought to light
that unscrupulous traders are pumping
synthetic milk into the market. The so-called synthetic milk poses serious
health risks for infants, pregnant
women, old people, as well as heart
and kidney patients.
The 'synthetic', technology supposedly perfected by milk vendors at
Kurukshetra, has now spread to the
adjacent states of Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.
Synthetic milk is similar to real milk in
all aspects except taste and nutritional
qualities. It consists largely of cheap
cooking oil. A detergent is added to
'emulsify' and dissolve the oil in water,
which adds the characteristic white
colour of milk to the frothy solution.
Urea is used as a substitute for solid-not-fat. A litre of this mixture costs
Rs two or less and blended with natural
milk, it could be sold for Rs 11.
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