Nutritionists say there are three white poisons – salt, refined sugar and maida. One wonders now if there is a fourth one on the horizon – milk. It is not the milk per say but what is added into it that is dangerous.
Adulteration or adding unwanted ingredients to food may be intentional or unintentional. The first is done deliberately to increase profits. Adulteration may also be incidental due to lack of knowledge and lack of hygiene. Adulteration is defined as
“the process by which the quality or the nature of a given substance is reduced. Water is a common adulterant to milk, to increase volume and profits, but the problem is that the consumers immediately make out the presence of it.
The taste of the milk changes, it does not boil over while heating but keeps boiling inside the vessel, the tea is insipid, and formation of cream is reduced. To avoid getting caught, the adulterator adds certain substances to the ‘watered’ milk to improve its thickness,
taste, density and viscosity. The common adulterants are formalin, urea, starch, neutralizers (NaHCO3 , Na2 CO3 , NaOH, Ca(OH)2 etc.), detergents, sodium chloride, skim milk powder, sucrose, glucose/dextrose, and hydrogen peroxide. Some of these are referred to solid-non-fats (SNF) and are used to cover the quantity of natural fats missing in the ‘watered’ milk. Let us look at the some common adulterants in milk.
