KATHMANDU, June 20: Most dairies in the Valley are found to be operating without a license from the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC). A study by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) shows that there are some 800 dairies in operation nationwide, and of these, only 26 have a license.
Though the study shows that many dairies have no license, DFTQC has not been able to take any action against those operating without license.
“It is true that many dairies are operating without license, and they will face legal action,” said Pramod Koirala, spokesperson of DFTQC, adding that they have not been able to monitor all of them due to lack of infrastructure and manpower. [break]
Meanwhile, Dairy Industries Association (DIA) and Nepal Dairy Association (NDA), organizing a press meet in the capital, demanded that the government first take action against those operating without license and then only monitor the other aspects of the industry.
“The government must first monitor the dairies which are operating without license and then only check other issues as there are only a handful of dairies that are operating with license. But the government, citing various reasons, is taking action against those that have license,” said Arniko Rajbhandari, general secretary of DIA and director of Nepal Dairy.
Dairy entrepreneurs said that the government is raising the issue of coliform presence in dairy products and sealing the private dairy units while it has not taken any action against the government´s own Dairy Development Corporation even though milk produced there also contains coliform.
As per existing standards, there should be zero coliform presence in pasteurized milk.
Spokesman Koirala, however, said they will take action against all dairy firms, be they in the private or public sector, but for now they are sealing those found to have excessive levels of coliform.
Megh Raj Bhandari, chairman of NDA, said that as the standard is zero coliform, DFTQC should either take action against daries whose products contain coliform or not take action against any. “There is no parameter for judging what is high and what is low. The law says zero coliform, so anything more than zero should be intolerable and action should be taken against all, but there has been bias and only the private firms are suffering,” said Bhandari.
Herambha Rajbhandari, a dairy expert, said it is very difficult to make pasteurized milk free of coliform as there is problem with the collection system. “There is no chilling center in every place where milk is collected, but if the milk is boiled the coliform gets destroyed,” he said adding that in India up to 10 grams of coliform is allowed.
According to the entrepreneurs, coliform is a group of bacteria which includes five different types. Of thee, three are not harmful and the harmful coliform is are destroyed during pasteurizing.
“If the government is to start closing dairies whose pasteurized milk contains coliform that may not necessarily be harmful, then the pasteurizing of milk should be stopped,” said Rajbhandari.
DFTQC seals 3 Bhaktapur dairies
The Department of Food Technology and Quality control has sealed three dairy firms in Bhkatapur. A monitoring team from DFTQC has sealed Kharipati Dairy, Sainju Dairy and Bhaktapur Dairy, saying that their products contained excessive levels of coliform.
The team monitored Kharipati Dairy´s Gayatri brand milk, Sainju Dairy´s Amrit and Kantipur brand milk and Bhaktapur Dairy´s BDPL brand. All these products were found to have excessive levels of coliform.
Pramod Koirala, spokesperson of DFTQC, said they have sealed only those dairies that are found to have excessive coliform levels. “But we will also take action against those whose milk is of low quality and has low fat and SNF,” he said.
On Friday also, DFTQC sealed three dairy firms -- Aadhunik Dairy at Balaju, Sanjivani Dairy at Pandu Bazar, Bhakatapur and Idea Plus dairy at Chapagaun-- after high levels of coliform were found in their milk samples.
Meanwhile, issuing a press statement, DFTQC has requested the public not to consume Gayatri, Amrit, Kantipur, BDPL, Sanjeevani and ADP brands of milk until further notice.
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