Mangalore: Rumours of adulterated Nandini milk causes panic

Mangalore, 20 Aug 2012: After preying on the battered psyche of students from the North-East, rumour mongers had a field day targeting consumers of Nandini milk processed and marketed by Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (DKMUL) on Monday. A rumour that Nandini milk delivered to agents across Dakshina Kannada and neighbouring Kasargod was adulterated (read poisoned) that spread as wildfire was enough to cause panic.

 

BV Sathyanarayana, manager (marketing) of DKMUL first received a call from an agent at 6.30am in Ullal wanting to confirm if the news of adulteration was true. Things starting going haywire from 8.15am onwards when intensity of rumours grew forcing DKMUL authorities to get into damage control mode and also assuage feelings of dealers and consumers. They immediately sourced nine samples delivered to agents from various places and tested it.

 

 

With no signs of discolouration on heating, the milk from samples drawn was used to prepare tea and the staff of DKMUL consumed it to set at rest speculation in this regard. However with no signs of rumours abating, Sathyanarayana took the help of visual media to scotch rumours clarifying that milk is absolutely safe and there was nothing wrong with the nearly 2.5-lakh litres of milk processed and dispatched from the Kulshekar dairy in the morning.

 

Sathyanarayana said, "DKMUL dairy is ISO 22000:2005 certified." The Union procures milk from primary milk producers’ cooperative societies. "We know our source (of procurement) very well," he said, adding that pasteurising process done at the dairy is safe and there is absolutely no scope for adulteration at any stage." The consumers and dealers can be rest assured that the union supplies only quality Nandini milk to end users, he asserted.

 

Incidentally, this newspaper office received calls from neighbouring Kasargod district where DKMUL services a section of consumers there. The callers wanted to know if the ’news’ that people had been hospitalised after consuming milk was indeed true. A homemaker at Belthangady too called to ’confirm’ if news of children being hospitalised after consuming Nandini milk was true. Their fears were allayed when informed of the factual position.