Kathmandu, June 26

Due to the increasing number of complaints regarding the quality of milk being sold in the market, the government is set to regulate small dairy shops across the country.

Along with dairy firms, dairy shops are the major suppliers of milk and other dairy products in the local market.

However, a majority of such dairy outlets operate without registering their business. Moreover, quality of unpackaged milk

being sold by such shops has been repeatedly found to be below the standards set by the government.

A recent inspection carried out by Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DoFTQC) had found the presence of excessive amount of coliform and other adulteration in the unpackaged milk sold by dairy outlets.

“Small dairies are the major suppliers of milk in the local market and the chances of adulteration is high in such milk as they do not follow the set quality standards,” said Sanjeev Kumar Karn, director general of DoFTQC. As per him, the department is coordinating with local governments to regulate such dairies in the near future.

As per Karn, the first attempt to regulate dairy shops will be by requiring them to register their business. Once the dairy shops are registered, it will be easier for the government to monitor them, he said.

Though government does not have the data on the actual number of such small dairies in the country, officials estimate their number to be over 1,000.

“Following registration of such dairy shops, we will also set the quality guidelines for milk being sold by the small dairy shops,” added Karn.

Meanwhile, government inspections have found that even packaged milk sold by big dairies, including state-owned Dairy Development Corporation, failed quality tests, pointing at the urgency of intensifying regulations and monitoring in country’s dairy industry.

A few weeks ago, a market inspection carried out by DoFTQC had found the use of caustic soda and other detergent materials in the packaged milk sold by big dairy firms. Consequently, the dairy industry was on the verge of declaring ‘milk holiday’ owing to depleting demand of milk.