India has emerged as the largest producer of milk in the world with an annual production of 80 million tonnes. Punjab produces about eight million tonnes of milk annually, which is about 10 per cent of the country’s total milk production. The per capita availability of milk in Punjab is also the highest in the country, at 853 grams per day. Although India produces the highest quantity of milk, it lags far behind as far as quality is concerned.

India has initiated reforms in the economic and financial sectors over the last decade, ushering in a free market economy. Globalisation has created multiple products, manufacturers and solutions. Instead of a limited availability of products under a monopoly market, consumers now have the choice of a wide array of products form multi-national companies. The customer can choose the best with regard to quality, service, availability, price and brand image.

It is, therefore, imperative that India produces clean milk if the dairy industry is to survive in the open world market. If raw milk has a heavy bacterial load and bad quality, then all efforts to produce good products will be futile.

Clean milk

Clean milk does not merely mean making it free of extraneous matters by passing it through a sieve or muslin cloth. It actually means milk drawn from the udder of a healthy animal, produced and handled under hygienic conditions, and containing only a small amount of non-pathogenic bacteria. This type of milk, when stored at a constant temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, should be expect to stay fit for consumption for 72 hours from the time of milking.

Earlier, the quality of milk was determined on the basis of fat and SNF content, which does not fulfil the quality requirements now. The quality of milk needs to be graded on the number of micro-organisms present. Milk must be brought to a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius within one hour of milking. As far as possible, it should be stored around 4 degrees Celsius, as an increase in temperature increases bacterial activities. If the milk is not chilled in time, the bacterial population grows rapidly and causes degradation in quality, which no amount of processing or treatment can improve.

Factors causing poor quality

Several factors are responsible for the production of poor quality of milk. Among them:

• Most producers of milk are ignorant about the need to maintain quality. They do not realise that to survive in the open world market, they have to be very cautious about the initial bacterial load of milk rather than the content of fat and SNF.
• There is too much variation in the climate in India. It is extremely hot in summers and biting cold in winters. The high and humid temperature in summers promotes the growth of micro-organisms, which leads to the spoilage of milk.

It has been reported that nearly 5 per cent of the milk produced in the country goes sour, causing a loss of Rs 4,000 crore annually. Besides, the production of milk is less during summer. This entices producers to resort to malpractices, leading to adulteration of milk

• There is a lack of facilities for the storage and transportation of milk under refrigerated conditions. Even if these facilities are available at some places, they are of little use because of the erratic power supply.
• Farmers usually do not have large herds. A majority of them have only two or three animals. Therefore, the quality suffers due to a lack of organised milk production and collection.
• The poor quality of feed, forage and water being fed to animals also results in poor quality of milk. Some feeds have been reported to contain aflatoxins. Aflatoxins are fungal metabolites found as toxic contaminants of foods. Aflatoxins are produced by the common mold Aspergillus flavus and A parasiticus. Upon digestion, the Aspergillus toxins are metabolised by the milch animals and are secreted into the milk in the form of M1 and M2. These are also toxic to humans.
• The presence of contaminants in milk also affects its quality. The indiscriminate use of insecticides and pesticides can prove injurious to the health of consumers. When feed or fodder on which insecticides or pesticides have been used irrationally are fed to animals, these find their way into the animal’s milk.

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