The scandal about contaminated fresh milk has caused many people to refrain from consuming this nutritious drink. Reem Leila investigates Egyptians may have apparently been drinking fresh cow's milk mixed with ceramic powder, peroxide, chlorine and fertilisers for years. The daily Al-Ahram newspaper ran a long feature last week about the alarming fact that some small unlicensed dairies have resorted to the hazardous mix in order to produce more milk, lower costs and raise profits. More ominously, it transpired that when the tainted fresh milk is tested in laboratories the poisonous blend is undetectable. According to Hamdy Abdel-Samie, professor of milk hygiene at Banha University, these profit-hungry producers derive butter from fresh milk, then add ceramic powder to the water milk left behind to give it the proper consistency as fresh milk, peroxide to give the liquid a white colour, vegan ghee to supply the fake milk with fats and fertilisers for the protein whose percentage in natural milk ranges from 2.8 to three per cent. Until this production comes under control, Abdel-Samie recommended giving children organic milk and packed dairy products that have been tested for contaminating substances, and never to use unpacked milk and its derivatives. Fresh natural milk contains water, fat, protein, sugar, mineral salts and vitamins. According to Abdel-Samie, milk is 85 per cent water, at least 5.5 per cent fat and 6.5 per cent proteins and vitamin. Dairy constitutes some 31 per cent of total agricultural production and supplies 34 per cent of proteins consumed by human. Domestic production covers about two thirds of total consumption, which is mainly based on cheese, leaving imports at 900,000 tonnes of milk. Thus, each individual on average consumes 60kg of milk per year. Buffalo milk covers over 60 per cent of the total domestic production, amounting to about 915kg of milk per head per year. Producing dairy products is a very labour-intensive business, and the number of illegal dairies is quite large, according to the Chamber of Food Industry (CFI) Chairman Safwan Thabet. "This is translated into considerable lobbying power as there are no accurate statistics about their numbers," Thabet explained. Each of these dairies produces more than 40 tonnes of carcinogenic milk and more than 3,000 tonnes of white cheese per day, at a price ranging from LE2 to LE4 per kilo. This realises a profit of LE1,000 per tonne. According to Law 10/1966 regarding food surveillance, all those who counterfeits any of food components is to be subject of a one year in jail and LE10,000 fine. The head of the Organisation for Standardisation and Quality Control (OSQC) Mahmoud Eissa is calling for stiffer penalties, including unlimited prison time and a higher fine. This, Eissa believes, would deter anyone from manufacturing sub-standard or harmful foods. In the wake of the press report, officials at the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Supply and Trade conducted on-the- spot verification visits across the country to gather the data required for an investigation. Health Ministry Spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shaheen stated that milk samples taken from these factories were tested at the ministry labs and proven safe. But Abdel-Samie begs to differ, insisting that milk produced at these illegal dairies is carcinogenic. On a national level, the debate over consumer rights balances concerns for safety and ensuring that products meet international standards. According to Abdel-Azim Abdel-Razek, deputy of the General Administration for Food Control at the Ministry of Health, the ministry's role is "to monitor and control" products beginning at the manufacturing stage until they reach the market. "This happens on a regular basis," assured Abdel-Razek. "Every 15 days, almost 6,000 food inspectors make the rounds of various food outlets. Our role is to protect people from diseases that result from bad food products." He went on to explain that hospitals automatically report incidences of food poisoning to the Ministry of Health. "Our role is then to investigate the cause of the poisoning and take samples of what the person ate," he continued. Until now, no hospital has reported cases of milk poisoning, confirmed Abdel-Razek. A myriad of government agencies share the responsibility of consumer protection, including the Ministry of Supply and Trade, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture. However, insufficient funds to ensure proper monitoring of markets and products are a frequently cited problem. Nonetheless, and in response to complaints from reputed milk manufacturers about the negative impact of tainted milk on their industry, the Society for Livestock Development (SLD), the Association for Milk Production (AMP), the CFI and OSQC formed a committee to look into the issue. CFI's Thabet noted that almost 16 monitoring agencies are charged with monitoring foods on the market, which results in many conflicts and contradictions. Thabet's advice is to unify all these bodies into one entity since the food industry is a LE100 billion operation, of which 70 per cent is manufactured at illegal or unlicensed factories which jeopardises people's health. "Imposing government control over the food market will solve many problems, including preventing hazardous diseases," he suggested. "In addition to cancer, there is an evident increase in kidney infections and liver failures due to contaminated food."
