CM has ordered to check all food products: Minister

He met the media after briefing the CM about the controversy that he had stoked on private dairies using harmful preservatives. The Minister also welcomed the Leader of Opposition and DMK working president MK Stalin’s suggestion on appointing a High Court judge to probe into the adulteration issue. 

“The CM called for top officials and instructed them in this regard. He suggested that we speed up our actions on erring private dairies”, Rajendhira Balaji said. 

“Our lab tests have confirmed presence of formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, urea and caustic soda in tested milk samples. We have found that these chemicals are available at throwaway prices in grey markets, and one such den is in Flower Bazaar. But it has closed following our inputs. We have sent as many as 20 samples for testing in various labs across the country. Once the results are out, we would start acting on the erring dairies. We do not have a provision to arbitrarily close-down. We would first cancel their licence, and follow up actions will be taken which may go up to prosecution,” the Minister said. 

Defending his action, the Minister said he had to do this only to create awareness among the denizens of the State. “Aavin made Rs 361 crore profits following a slew of measures. Aavin procures 31 lakh litres of which 25 lakh litres are sold as milk and the rest is used to produce dairybased products. The CM has asked to test the quality of Aavin milk as well,” the Minister said.