About milk adulteration in India
A 2019 FSSAI survey of 6,432 samples across India found that roughly 37% of processed milk and 10% of raw milk samples did not meet the prescribed safety standards. The most common problems were higher-than-permissible bacterial counts and added water or starch. A smaller but more dangerous subset contained synthetic milk — a toxic mix of detergent, urea, vegetable oil and water.
Most adulteration is economic — milkmen add water to stretch supply, add starch to restore viscosity, and add neutralisers to mask souring. These are dishonest but not immediately toxic. The genuinely dangerous adulterants are urea, ammonium sulphate, formalin and detergent — used only in large-scale synthetic milk operations. These cause kidney damage, gastritis, cancer and are especially harmful to children and elderly consumers.
How to use these tests practically
Start with the water test (easiest, just a drop on a tile) and the detergent test (shake with water, look for foam). These two cover 80% of cases. If both are clean but you are still suspicious, move to starch and urea. The more chemical tests (formalin, ammonium sulphate) need real reagents and should be done with supervision.
For any legal action or bulk testing, always send samples to an FSSAI-accredited lab. The home tests here are for personal awareness — results won’t stand up in a food safety case.
How to report adulterated milk
- Call FSSAI’s national helpline: 1800-112-100 (toll-free).
- Email: complaints@fssai.gov.in with sample photos and your test results.
- Find your local Food Safety Officer (FSO) at fssai.gov.in and file a written complaint with a sealed sample.
- For urgent cases, many states have WhatsApp complaint numbers — search “food adulteration complaint [your state]” for the current one.
Source: This guide is built from FSSAI’s publicly available DART (Detect Adulteration with Rapid Test) booklet and Indian dairy safety literature. FSSAI publishes these procedures for free consumer awareness.