Islamabad: Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) has demanded of the concerned authorities to immediately take necessary measure to prevent the sale of toxic milk in Rawalpindi. CRCP said that sale of toxic raw milk and some of the local pasteurized milk brand entailed serious health implication for consumers, given the use of milk in almost every household on daily basis. The deplorable situation could largely be attributed to the poor enforcement of existing food laws and ineffective quality control mechanism in the country, CRCP said.
This concern comes in response to findings of a study conducted by the Microbiology Laboratory of Pakistan of Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH). The research study revealed that raw milk and some local brands of pasteurized milk being marketed in Rawalpindi were harmful for human use because they contained harmful pathogenic bacteria. The research report lamented that consumers of toxics milk were at continuous risk of food-borne diseases. This was mainly due to poor compliance of food industry with standardization procedure.
While highlighting the issue, CRCP secretary general Mr. Abrar Hafeez pointed out that the threat proposed by the sale of toxic milk called for serious attention of the concerned food authorities and Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA). He was of the view that the problem of toxicity and contamination of milk needed to be addressed on priority basis because milk was very widely use commodity. Pakistan has one of the highest per capita milk consumption in the world. He said that the population in other cities could be exposed to similar health dangers. Therefore, the concerned authorities need to take serious notice of this issue. Laboratory tests of raw milk and various brand of local as well as multinational brands of pasteurized milk should be conducted on routine basis and result be made public so that consumer do not purchase harmful milk.
CRCP secretary general demanded that the concerned authorities should taken immediate measure to prevent sale of toxic raw milk as well as the brand of processed that have been found toxic for human consumption. He also demanded that the name of toxic milk brand should be made public to enable the consumer to make informed choice. He stressed the need for strict enforcement of existing food laws and quality control mechanism.