Every morning, Arun Joshi, a retired government official residing at Napean Sea Road, shells out Rs 16 for a litre of his favourite brand of milk. He is sure he is getting his money's worth and would rather not buy loose milk for fear of it being adulterated. What he and a large number of Mumbaiites do not know is that a huge portion of the milk sold in packets in the city is just that.

Though it is difficult to ascertain the extent of the problem in the city, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sources estimate that eight of the ten samples collected during raids are adulterated. Says a FDA official on condition of anonymity, ``We conduct almost four to five raids in a month.

We have `watchers'who keep vigil on different areas and inform us if they find something suspicious. Around six food inspectors, Assistant Commissioners, and sampling inspectors are sent to the spot between 3.30 and 4.30 am -- the right time to adulterate the milk before distribution begins''.

He adds, ``When a doodhwala enters a slum with packets of milk and comes out of the area after some time with the packets unsold, we know there is something fishy. Though the activity is carried out mostly in slums, people have been caught red-handed on roadsides too. The most interesting part is that most of the adulterated milk is sold in high-rise buildings of upmarket localities like Napean Sea Road and Malabar Hill, probably because people residing here hardly bother to check what they are consuming, unlike in the middle-class localities''.

Sources in the BMC, which has 12 inspectors of its own to conduct food raids, inform that in Mumbai, milk is usually mixed with water unlike in North India where chemicals like urea anddetergent are used to make synthetic milk. They claim that adulteration is on the rise in the city mainly because people blindly accept what they buy as 100 per cent milk. ``They are not even aware of what constitutes the liquid something that they consume on a daily basis,'' says an official.

``Milk is 85 per cent water and 15 per cent milk solids,'' continues the official. ``The milk solids are further classified into fat and solid non-fat (SNF). Rule 5 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954, defines the standards of quality for all grades of milk. For example, buffalo milk has to have a minimum of 6 per cent fat and 9 per cent SNF. For cow's milk, it is 3.5 per cent and 8.5 per cent respectively and so on for goat, mixed, standardised, toned, double toned and skim milk. If milk does not measure up to these parameters, it is said to be adulterated''.

Last month, the Tardeo police busted a major milk adulteration racket arresting 18 persons and seizing over 27,000 fake milk packets ofAarey, Mahananda and Gokul dairies. They also recovered dyes of these dairies which were used to manufacture the fake bags. According to the police, the culprits would first purchase genuine milk bags and inject out a glass of milk by cutting the bag from a corner. Water was added to the remaining milk and the packet sealed again. The extracted milk was again adulterated, packed in the fake bags and sold.

FDA officials say that though the PFA Act is mandatory, the fact that it is a Central Act takes it out of the purview of the state government.

``Adulteration is a criminal offence and penalties can run from 3 months to even life imprisonment. But very few people are punished because of the nature of the activity carried on mostly by migrants. Since it is a bailable offence, it is easy even for those arrested to escape. When we conduct a raid, we divide the sample into three parts one to be sent to the municipal analyst, second to the Local Health Authority and a third for further counter-checking.Adulteration cases are heard at the 49th court at Mazgaon.''

BMC sources say the activity is gaining ground mainly because it is a way of making a fast buck and is a bailable offence. ``If a person sells around 400 packets of this milk in one day, he easily makes a profit of Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500. This coupled with the rising population makes it difficult to keep tabs on each and every area. Several years ago, branded milk was available only in booths and not over the counter, which made adulteration almost impossible. The only way to rid ourselves of this problem is to be more vigilant and make a complaint to the authorities if foul play is suspected''.

For complaints, contact FDA on 6432123/2149.