Dairy delicacies stir up toxic fear

Many people are now skeptical about sweetmeats which arrive to the capital from other districts as these are often made with poor quality powdered milk that could be tainted with melamine. Photo: STAR

For years people are having the famous and delicious confections like Porabari's chamcham, Comilla's rosomalai, monda from Muktagachha, curd from Bogra and rashogolla from Jessore. These goodies are available in the capital and many other places elsewhere and consumers buy the items thanks to their reputation as well as well-financed adverts.
Besides these, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla ice-cream, milk shake, lassi, cheese, butter and chocolate -- all the items are mouthwatering dairy products popular among the consumers.
But not too many people are aware that many of these items might pose a serious risk to their health. Talking to the people related to business, it was learned that most of the products are made with sub-standard milk powder that possibly contains poisonous melamine.
Even in some cases, it was found that many of these items are made with adulterated milk.
Now many of the city dwellers are worried about the dairy products after the news of industrial chemical melamine mixed with powdered milk was published.
"For the last few days my daughter is mad at me as I don't buy her ice-cream. My son is also fond of sweetmeats. But I don't dare buy them," said Giasuddin Ahmed from Kalabagan.
Surprisingly, the government seems sitting idle without taking any effective measures for quality control. A series of reports run by The Daily Star led the government to form mobile courts in 2006 that conducted several hygiene drives across the country.
But this time the government's role during the ongoing melamine controversy is not satisfactory to many.
The newspaper reports led the government agencies to test samples of milk powder, seize and destroy some specific brands of formula milk, but the consumers have yet to see any action regarding dairy products.
Following the media reports on the presence of melamine in milk powder, this correspondent looked into production of some dairy items and found similar dirty situation there.
Earlier, the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) conducted a survey in February 2006 and found that almost 100 percent of the examined samples of sweetmeats and curd were adulterated.
DCC food and sanitation officers say those mouthwatering sweetmeats are not only adulterated, most of those are made in a filthy environment.
Though the mobile courts conducted several drives, fined and realised charges, and jailed some owners and workers, the government could not find any mechanism to improve quality of those products.
Things remain almost the same, say officials who were engaged in hygiene drives.
The people involved in producing dairy products say almost all those products in the country are made with cheap and low standard milk powder. Milk powder of different brands costs Tk 550 per kilogram, whereas the non-brand cheap milk powder costs Tk 300 per kg.
Speaking anonymously, an experienced confectioner says if someone wants to produce genuine sweetmeats, it would be very expensive. From 40 litres of milk only six kilograms of chhana or curdled milk, main ingredient for sweetmeats, is made, he adds.
After mixing four kg sugar with one kg chhana, only four kilograms of original sweetmeats are found with one kg liquid sugar remaining.
So, from 40 litres of milk one can produce around 24 kilograms of original sweetmeats, the confectioner observes.
If fresh milk is Tk 60 per litre and sugar Tk 36 per kg, only production cost of one kg original sweetmeats would be at least Tk 164 without transportation, advertisement, shop rent, workers' salary and packaging costs and taxes.
The situation is same in case of ice-cream, chocolate, cheese, ghee, yoghurt and other dairy products, the confectioner says, adding, "Almost all the dairy producers adulterate their products."
Some experienced confectioners say most sweetmeats are made with adulterated chhana, saccharin, flour and textile dye. Traders also use soybean and vegetable oil instead of milk fat.
DCC officials say there are around 1,000 confection shops in the capital selling thousands of kilograms of dairy products every day. But the few dairy farms in and around the city produce much less quantity of raw milk, they add.
"So most of the dairy products are made with cheap milk powder. The others are made of adulterated artificial formalin -mixed liquid milk," said a government official who conducted several drives.
Confectioners say a huge portion of milk and chhana comes to the city from Barisal, Chandpur, Sirajganj, Bogra, Munshiganj and Shariatpur. During a sudden inspection, it was seen those are arriving in unclean pots wrapped by dirty cloths on deck of launches and roof of buses.
They say first the chhana traders liquefy low-standard milk powder and mix it with raw milk; then they put paste of ground rice into the milk and add sulphuric acid to turn the milk in to chhana within minutes.
Later they use essence, artificial colours and sugar to make the sweetmeats. In most cases, the sweetmeats producers use toxic textile dye instead of food colours, although this may cause cancer and kidney damages if regularly ingested.
"If the industrial chemical melamine is added to textile dye and saccharine for food items, the health risk increases many times," said a health expert.
Some owners of high-end sweetmeats shops admitted that a section of traders make their confections with adulterated ingredients.
"Some traders obviously do it. But we make our sweetmeats and curds with fresh liquid milk," said a trader, who has many shops in the city and mobile courts fined their factory in Mirpur a couple of times.
According to the Pure Food Ordinance, 1959, at least 10 percent milk fat is mandatory in sweetmeats. But in most cases, the percentage of milk fat is not more than five percent, sources say.