LAHORE - Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry in collaboration with Livestock and Dairy Development Department on Wednesday organised a seminar on “Milk Adulteration”.

LCCI President Abdul Basit, Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan, Livestock Secretary Naseem Sadiq, Allama Iqbal Medical College Principal Dr Mehmood Shaukat, Jinnah Hospital ENT Chairman Dr Rashid Zia, renowned Nutritionist Jawaria Mahmood and Smart School System Lahore Principal Hina Bader expressed their views on the occasion.

All the participants were of the view that strict action should be taken against the adulterators who are putting the precious human lives and image of the country on stake. They said that phenomenon of adulteration of food, particularly of milk has become one of the most serious problems in the country. Dangerous ingredients like detergent, foreign fat, starch, sodium hydroxide, caustic soda, sugar, urea, pond water, salt, sodium carbonate, formalin and ammonium sulphate are being used for the making of counterfeited milk.

Punjab Secretary for Livestock and Dairy Development Nasim Sadiq said that soon a complaint cell will be established to address the complaints of milk adulteration. He said that demands of milkmen are under consideration while direct link between them and consumers would be established as middle man is responsible for milk price hike and adulteration.

He said that the provincial government is making all out efforts for the development of livestock farming as growth of this sector will result in overall growth of GDP.

He said that a large component of Punjab’s population depends on farming and the government wants to guarantee their prosperity by providing them facilities associated with the livestock and dairy sector

The LCCI president said that judiciary deserves appreciation for taking notice of the milk adulteration that is a crime against the humanity. He said that those elements should be taken to the justice, who are playing with the human lives besides tarnishing the image of the country.

He said that Pakistan should avail full advantage of the God-gifted resources in dairy and livestock sectors. He said that there is an urgent need for the development of commercial processing plant in highly milk areas of Pakistan that would increase the milk processing capacity up to 97% instead of existing 5 to 8 percent. He said that commercial processing plants would also help the milk free from adulteration.