RCDF starts facility to test milk, ghee and other dairy products

Jaipur: Consumers can now verify the quality of dairy products, including milk, ghee, and mawa (milk extract), at their nearest Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation (RCDF) laboratory if they suspect contamination. The facility tests milk for urea and other adulterants, ghee for palm oil or potato contamination, and mawa quality used in sweets. The service is provided free of charge, with test results delivered instantly via mobile phone.

To initiate action against vendors selling adulterated products, consumers must furnish purchase bills or source information. The laboratory currently conducts tests for 25 different types of adulterants, with plans to expand testing capabilities to identify 36 types of contaminants in the future.

"Milk taken from any dairy in the city or ghee from any place can be tested in our labs of RCDF without paying anything. We will release the test report on the mobile phone of the consumer on the same day of receiving the sample. The test report will reveal whether the sample is adulterated or not and if it is, to what extent," said Vinod Gera, manager (Public Relations), RCDF.

He added that consumers need to take a 50 ml sample to RCDF lab for testing, and they are required to give basic information like name, mobile number, and home address for testing ghee-milk. "Most importantly, if adulteration is found in the sample and the consumer wishes to take further legal action against the culprit, they are required to bring the bill or contact number of the dairy," Gera added.

Authorities added that advanced machines would be able to test 25 types of adulteration. "Currently, 25 types of adulteration are being tested in the laboratory, but this number will be increased to 36 in the coming time. We check if it has adulterated fat, acid content, if it has ammonium carbonate which is added to increase fat content and it adversely affects the metabolism," said an officer.