Is our loose milk safe?

Good nutrition and access to an adequate and balanced diet is essential not only for child's growth and development, but also for adults for protection from both infectious and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Milk is traditionally considered as a complete food and has been known as "Mother Nature's most perfect food". This attribution is due to its being the only food that alone is able to sustain life and growth of humans, and the reason is because of its rich content of protein, fat, carbohydrates, almost all known vitamins and various minerals essential for sustaining life and maintaining good health. Milk is known for its nutritious importance and its role in strengthening of bones, teeth, muscles and lowering the risk of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, ischemic heart disease, depression and cancers. This makes milk an ideal drink for all ages. All these benefits of milk can only be obtained if we consume milk in its pure and safe form because on one hand, if pure milk ensures healthy growth and nourishment then on the other hand, adulterated milk causes morbidity and serious health outcome.
Statistics show that 90% of the Pakistani population consumes loose milk. The reason behind this is years of tradition, where loose milk is bought from gawalas (loose milk sellers), which is then boiled before consumption. Most Pakistanis remain unaware to the many health hazards posed by loose milk. There is no doubt that milk provides us many benefits still there is a long list of questions about the kind of milk that masses are using. Among these the quality concerns are most serious because the entire value chain starting from production till its consumption is questionable.
The whole story of raw milk collection and its delivery to the consumer in an unpacked form starts even before the collection process in the traditional dairy farms where cows are injected with hormones and drugs to increase productivity. Next, how loose milk finds its way from village to the urban consumer through a series of steps is another story.Poor sanitations of livestock shed, non-cleaning of animals before milking; milking by hand, adulteration of milk with preservatives and chemicals are few among many hazards in this chain. The bacteria from the animal might pass in the milk. Some of the pathogens found in loose raw milk include: E. coli, salmonella, campylobacter, cryptosporidium and listeria. All of these pathogens can be in the intestines and feces of cattle and may enter raw milk through improper handling and non-sanitary milking procedures. The milkmen generally milk the animal and keep the milk in open, which again surely cause addition of pathogens present in the air.
Local dairy farmers store the milk in non-sanitized open buckets and the milk is then carelessly and improperly transported to consumers directly or retail shopkeepers carrying millions of bacteria within. Due to metallic nature of milk containers chances of this milk getting spoiled are quite high. Insufficient or non-availability of icing facilities during transport of milk further compromise the quality even before it reaches the consumer. Any bacteria present in loose milk rapidly multiply as it gets transported in such a manner.
Finally, through retailers and 'gawalas' (street milk vendors) milk reaches the consumer and by the time, the consumers drink it; it is less of milk and more of water, as during this journey lot of ice and unfiltered water is also added. In order to ensure that the milk's appearance doesn't change, some milkmen (gawalas) add starch, flour, urea, vegetable oil, etc. Sometimes hydrogen peroxide is also added to preserve the milk. Addition of these adulterants and chemicals may not only cause loss of important nutrients of milk but pose harmful effects on health as well. Studies (conducted in third world countries and various region of Pakistan) have shown that consumption of adulterated milk contribute significantly to the poor nutritional statues especially of children under 5 years of age.
The journey doesn't end here. In an effort to make this drink suitable for drinking the normal practice in most of the households in Pakistan is to boil milk in open pans for several minutes. Sadly most households in Pakistan are still unaware that prolonged and repeated boiling of milk leads to loss of valuable nutrients.
In view of above the regular consumption of loose milk has now become the biggest threat to public health, in Pakistan. The main concerns when it comes to consumption of loose milk are maintaining its good quality, ensuring a standard hygiene during milking and handling animal, preventing contamination and adulteration, since adulteration has become an endemic issue. In this regard, Punjab Food Authority (PFA) is actively conducting province-wide operation against adulterated milk by placing screening pickets for inspecting the quality of milk and at several occasions thousands of liters of adulterated and substandard loose milk has been disposed of. However, more needs to be done to make adulteration less easy and punished to a greater extent.
Milk is acknowledged as basic building block of balanced diet and important source of nutrition throughout the globe. Governments across the world are increasing regulations to maintain consumer's interest by introducing Minimum Pasteurization Law in order to guarantee standard milk quality. Implementation of this law is essential in Pakistan as well to ensure that the milk reaching the consumers from any source is free of adulteration and safe for human consumption.
Provision of healthy and safe hygienic milk to the consumers is currently a big challenge for government and policymakers. Dairy sector of Pakistan and other industry participants should fund an aggressive, purposeful marketing campaign to educate consumers on the dangers of loose milk. Preferably this campaign should be launched in both print and electronic media in the national language.
(The author is an MBBS and MPhil in Pharmacology, and teaches in a private medical college in Lahore. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the newspaper)