sparklingway
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In December 2009, Dr Muhammad Yaqoob Bhatti sought public interest litigation in the context of packaged milk being tainted with unhealthy amounts of melamine and other harmful contents.
The LHC sought chemical lab results of packaged milk products available in the market and the quality control body, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) submitted before the court its findings which showed that the milk was tainted with unhealthy amounts of melamine and various other harmful/unhealthy ingredients or in unsafe amounts.
The LHC then sought another lab examination, this time preferably from abroad. This was obviously carried out at the request of the defense who would have called the authenticity and accuracy of the local lab reports in question. The lab examination from abroad was carried out at state expense and taxpayers were paying for tainted milk to be tested again.
Lab results arrived from Germany but today, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah presiding over the case has gagged the media from reporting on this matter as the defense feels that the media will carry out a trial before the public and the guilt of the milk companies would be assumed without conviction.
I have asked my friends at LHCBA to get me a copy of the court proceedings as swift as they can as this is a really worrisome matter. Court proceedings in this regard are important as I'd like to know the details of what has happened and how much is the level of contamination, keeping in mind there is a chance (albeit slight these days) of the case file slipping and reaching the bottom of the desk never to be touched again.
I'm presenting to you in reverse chronological order the brief news reports that have surfaced in this regard.
Packaged milk samples report not yet available
Friday, March 05, 2010
By By Our Correspondent
LAHORE : JUSTICE Mansoor Ali Shah of the Lahore high Court on Thursday adjourned until March 29 hearing in a petition challenging the quality of tetra pack milk.
Ali Zafar, the counsel for Tetra Pak, told the court that Justice Saqib Nisar was previously hearing the case filed by the Watan Party and he had sent samples of packed milk abroad for testing but the report was not available.
On this, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah adjourned the proceedings until March 29 in the hope that results of the samples sent to UK for testing would returned until the next date of the hearing.
Earlier, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the case before his elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Justice Saqib Nisar had constituted a six-member committee to get packed milk samples tested from the UK at a cost of Rs 2 million. The City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) was to bear the expenditure for test from foreign labs so that the quality of the packed milk could be ascertained.
The committee to get the packed milk samples tested from UK consisted of Barrister Zafarullah Khan, (the petitioner’s counsel), Shahzad Shaukat advocate, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, Barrister Sidra and two representatives from milk companies.
The petition was moved by Dr Muhammad Yaqoob Bhatti of the Watan Party Pakistan against supply of hazardous milk by milk companies.
The petitioner’s counsel, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, referred to press reports which suggested that around 80 percent milk being sold in the city was adulterated including milk marketed by tetra pack companies.
Ali Zafar advocate informed the court that although TetraPak was not involved in milk adulteration, it realized the significance of milk adulteration case for the betterment of the people of Pakistan and deemed it part of corporate social responsibility to voluntarily provide assistance to the court in the matter.
Ali Zafar told the court that packed milk only constituted 3 percent of the total milk sold in the country and somehow it was these companies that were becoming the target of the this petition, as opposed to 97 percent milk which is sold by milkmen who are not subject to any quality control or testing.
The court observed that laws regulating these milk production companies are easier to enforce and the law being used in other countries to control milk adulteration should be provided to the court at the next hearing.
Source : The News
Melamine, detergents in packed milk, court told
Thursday, 10 Dec, 2009
LAHORE: Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court expressed grave concern on Wednesday when the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) chairman confirmed the mixing of melamine, besides detergents, in packed milk.
The judge observed that the court would not allow anyone to play havoc with the lives of people, especially children.
The chairman informed the court that a meeting of the Food and Milk Products Technical Committee would be held on Dec 15 to discuss the adulteration of different substances in packed milk.
Barrister Zafarullah Khan, who had filed a petition against supply of adulterated packed milk, pointed out that the Pakistan Standard Specifications for Milk, 2009, allowed indirect mixing of 5mg of melamine in 1kg of milk for adults and 1mg for children.
The PSQCA chairman said the technical committee would take note of the matter.
Justice Nisar directed the chairman to present a detailed report on Dec 22 about the outcome of the meeting.
The judge asked amicus curiae Barrister Sidra to collect milk samples for tests in a laboratory in London.
Barrister Zafar would contribute Rs10,000 to meet expenses of sample collection, the judge said.
Since melamine has high nitrogen content, it is mainly used in plastic and foam products. It can make foods appear to have higher protein content in some tests. Dishonest food producers in some countries have used melamine to supplement feedstock, pet food and even baby formula.
Scientists have determined that melamine causes kidney stones and renal failure and can be fatal to animals and humans.
Recently, several thousand babies in China became ill, having suffered acute kidney failure, with several fatalities, after consuming milk contaminated with melamine.
Source : Dawn
Mixing of harmful substances in packed milk confirmed
* LHC judge says playing with people’s lives won’t be allowed
* Directs official to get milk tested from London lab
Staff Report
LAHORE: The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) chairman on Wednesday told a bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) that various harmful substances, such as melamine and detergents, were indeed being mixed in packaged milk.
Hearing a petition against the supply of adulterated milk to markets, LHC judge Justice Mian Saqib Nisar remarked that the court would not allow anyone to “play with the lives of innocent people, especially children”.
The chairman also informed the court that a meeting of the Food and Milk Product Technical Committee had already been convened for December 15 to discuss the adulteration of different substances in packed milk. He said the PSQCA’s technical committee would also take notice of the findings.
Report: The judge directed the chairman to appear in court on December 22 with a detailed report on the outcome of the meeting. Counsel for the petitioner Barrister Zafarullah Khan alleged that the PSQCA had allowed the indirect mixing of 5mg melamine in each kilogramme of milk for adults and 1mg in milk for children, which could be fatal.
Testing: The judge directed Barrister Sidra, amicus curiae (friend of the court) to collect milk samples and get them examined from a laboratory in London.
Petitioner Dr Muhammad Yaqoob Bhatti, central executive member of the Watan Party Pakistan, had challenged the alarming situation caused by adulterated milk being supplied in market. The petitioner relied upon a report published in a newspaper on Feb 4, 2009, which stated that dairy farms and milk supplying companies had been adding various chemicals and unhygienic material in milk.
The percentage of impurities includes urea, or melamine as protein booster (30 percent), substandard cooking oil (70 percent), powdered water chestnut (40 percent), unhygienic water (50 percent), formalin, a chemical used by doctors to preserve human body (35 percent), penicillin for enhancing the thickness and fragrance of milk (47 percent), hair removing powder (29 percent), zoonotic pathogens (27 percent) and other adulterants including soda bicarbonate, to improve the taste.
Source : Daily Times
PSQCA confirms packaged milk in Pakistan adulterated
Thursday, December 10, 2009
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The chairman of the Pakistan Standard Quality and Control Authority (PSQCA) on Wednesday submitted before the Lahore High Court that the authority’s finding had confirmed the reports on mixture of dangerous substances like melamine, detergents and chemicals in the packaged milk.
The PSQCA chairman was submitting his reply to Justice Mian Saqib Nisar who expressed grave concerns over the dangerous state of affairs among the authorities concerned for maintaining quality food in the country, which was causing diseases and deaths among the citizens. The judge observed that the court would not allow the heinous practice.
The PSQCA chairman informed the court that a meeting of the Technical Committee of Food and Milk Products had already been convened for December 15 to discuss the reports on adulteration of dangerous substances in packaged milk.
The petitioner, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, informed the court that amazingly the Pakistan Standard Specifications for Milk, 2009, had allowed mixing of 5 mg melamine in one kg milk for adults’ consumption and 1mg in one kg milk for children. He said the PSQCA had not given a single reason why the dangerous substance like melamine, which was a kind of plastic, was allowed to be added in milk since it was proved to have been a major cause of renal failure and other deadly diseases. He said the main reason melamine was allowed to be mixed in milk was because the major chunk of natural protein was extracted from the milk before packaging and melamine was added to artificially compensate the loss of protein and thinness of milk. He cited example of China where three persons found guilty of adding melamine in milk were hanged to death.
At this, the PSQCA chairman said the Technical Committee would also take notice of reported permission to add melamine in milk. The judge ordered the PSQCA chairman to appear in court on December 22 with a detailed report on the outcome of the meeting.
The judge also asked Barrister Sidra, the amicus curiae, to collect milk samples sent for testing from a laboratory in London, for which Barrister Syed Ali Zafar had promised to donate Rs 10,000.
Source : The News
The LHC sought chemical lab results of packaged milk products available in the market and the quality control body, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) submitted before the court its findings which showed that the milk was tainted with unhealthy amounts of melamine and various other harmful/unhealthy ingredients or in unsafe amounts.
The LHC then sought another lab examination, this time preferably from abroad. This was obviously carried out at the request of the defense who would have called the authenticity and accuracy of the local lab reports in question. The lab examination from abroad was carried out at state expense and taxpayers were paying for tainted milk to be tested again.
Lab results arrived from Germany but today, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah presiding over the case has gagged the media from reporting on this matter as the defense feels that the media will carry out a trial before the public and the guilt of the milk companies would be assumed without conviction.
I have asked my friends at LHCBA to get me a copy of the court proceedings as swift as they can as this is a really worrisome matter. Court proceedings in this regard are important as I'd like to know the details of what has happened and how much is the level of contamination, keeping in mind there is a chance (albeit slight these days) of the case file slipping and reaching the bottom of the desk never to be touched again.
I'm presenting to you in reverse chronological order the brief news reports that have surfaced in this regard.
Packaged milk samples report not yet available
Friday, March 05, 2010
By By Our Correspondent
LAHORE : JUSTICE Mansoor Ali Shah of the Lahore high Court on Thursday adjourned until March 29 hearing in a petition challenging the quality of tetra pack milk.
Ali Zafar, the counsel for Tetra Pak, told the court that Justice Saqib Nisar was previously hearing the case filed by the Watan Party and he had sent samples of packed milk abroad for testing but the report was not available.
On this, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah adjourned the proceedings until March 29 in the hope that results of the samples sent to UK for testing would returned until the next date of the hearing.
Earlier, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the case before his elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Justice Saqib Nisar had constituted a six-member committee to get packed milk samples tested from the UK at a cost of Rs 2 million. The City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) was to bear the expenditure for test from foreign labs so that the quality of the packed milk could be ascertained.
The committee to get the packed milk samples tested from UK consisted of Barrister Zafarullah Khan, (the petitioner’s counsel), Shahzad Shaukat advocate, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, Barrister Sidra and two representatives from milk companies.
The petition was moved by Dr Muhammad Yaqoob Bhatti of the Watan Party Pakistan against supply of hazardous milk by milk companies.
The petitioner’s counsel, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, referred to press reports which suggested that around 80 percent milk being sold in the city was adulterated including milk marketed by tetra pack companies.
Ali Zafar advocate informed the court that although TetraPak was not involved in milk adulteration, it realized the significance of milk adulteration case for the betterment of the people of Pakistan and deemed it part of corporate social responsibility to voluntarily provide assistance to the court in the matter.
Ali Zafar told the court that packed milk only constituted 3 percent of the total milk sold in the country and somehow it was these companies that were becoming the target of the this petition, as opposed to 97 percent milk which is sold by milkmen who are not subject to any quality control or testing.
The court observed that laws regulating these milk production companies are easier to enforce and the law being used in other countries to control milk adulteration should be provided to the court at the next hearing.
Source : The News
Melamine, detergents in packed milk, court told
Thursday, 10 Dec, 2009
LAHORE: Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court expressed grave concern on Wednesday when the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) chairman confirmed the mixing of melamine, besides detergents, in packed milk.
The judge observed that the court would not allow anyone to play havoc with the lives of people, especially children.
The chairman informed the court that a meeting of the Food and Milk Products Technical Committee would be held on Dec 15 to discuss the adulteration of different substances in packed milk.
Barrister Zafarullah Khan, who had filed a petition against supply of adulterated packed milk, pointed out that the Pakistan Standard Specifications for Milk, 2009, allowed indirect mixing of 5mg of melamine in 1kg of milk for adults and 1mg for children.
The PSQCA chairman said the technical committee would take note of the matter.
Justice Nisar directed the chairman to present a detailed report on Dec 22 about the outcome of the meeting.
The judge asked amicus curiae Barrister Sidra to collect milk samples for tests in a laboratory in London.
Barrister Zafar would contribute Rs10,000 to meet expenses of sample collection, the judge said.
Since melamine has high nitrogen content, it is mainly used in plastic and foam products. It can make foods appear to have higher protein content in some tests. Dishonest food producers in some countries have used melamine to supplement feedstock, pet food and even baby formula.
Scientists have determined that melamine causes kidney stones and renal failure and can be fatal to animals and humans.
Recently, several thousand babies in China became ill, having suffered acute kidney failure, with several fatalities, after consuming milk contaminated with melamine.
Source : Dawn
Mixing of harmful substances in packed milk confirmed
* LHC judge says playing with people’s lives won’t be allowed
* Directs official to get milk tested from London lab
Staff Report
LAHORE: The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) chairman on Wednesday told a bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) that various harmful substances, such as melamine and detergents, were indeed being mixed in packaged milk.
Hearing a petition against the supply of adulterated milk to markets, LHC judge Justice Mian Saqib Nisar remarked that the court would not allow anyone to “play with the lives of innocent people, especially children”.
The chairman also informed the court that a meeting of the Food and Milk Product Technical Committee had already been convened for December 15 to discuss the adulteration of different substances in packed milk. He said the PSQCA’s technical committee would also take notice of the findings.
Report: The judge directed the chairman to appear in court on December 22 with a detailed report on the outcome of the meeting. Counsel for the petitioner Barrister Zafarullah Khan alleged that the PSQCA had allowed the indirect mixing of 5mg melamine in each kilogramme of milk for adults and 1mg in milk for children, which could be fatal.
Testing: The judge directed Barrister Sidra, amicus curiae (friend of the court) to collect milk samples and get them examined from a laboratory in London.
Petitioner Dr Muhammad Yaqoob Bhatti, central executive member of the Watan Party Pakistan, had challenged the alarming situation caused by adulterated milk being supplied in market. The petitioner relied upon a report published in a newspaper on Feb 4, 2009, which stated that dairy farms and milk supplying companies had been adding various chemicals and unhygienic material in milk.
The percentage of impurities includes urea, or melamine as protein booster (30 percent), substandard cooking oil (70 percent), powdered water chestnut (40 percent), unhygienic water (50 percent), formalin, a chemical used by doctors to preserve human body (35 percent), penicillin for enhancing the thickness and fragrance of milk (47 percent), hair removing powder (29 percent), zoonotic pathogens (27 percent) and other adulterants including soda bicarbonate, to improve the taste.
Source : Daily Times
PSQCA confirms packaged milk in Pakistan adulterated
Thursday, December 10, 2009
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The chairman of the Pakistan Standard Quality and Control Authority (PSQCA) on Wednesday submitted before the Lahore High Court that the authority’s finding had confirmed the reports on mixture of dangerous substances like melamine, detergents and chemicals in the packaged milk.
The PSQCA chairman was submitting his reply to Justice Mian Saqib Nisar who expressed grave concerns over the dangerous state of affairs among the authorities concerned for maintaining quality food in the country, which was causing diseases and deaths among the citizens. The judge observed that the court would not allow the heinous practice.
The PSQCA chairman informed the court that a meeting of the Technical Committee of Food and Milk Products had already been convened for December 15 to discuss the reports on adulteration of dangerous substances in packaged milk.
The petitioner, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, informed the court that amazingly the Pakistan Standard Specifications for Milk, 2009, had allowed mixing of 5 mg melamine in one kg milk for adults’ consumption and 1mg in one kg milk for children. He said the PSQCA had not given a single reason why the dangerous substance like melamine, which was a kind of plastic, was allowed to be added in milk since it was proved to have been a major cause of renal failure and other deadly diseases. He said the main reason melamine was allowed to be mixed in milk was because the major chunk of natural protein was extracted from the milk before packaging and melamine was added to artificially compensate the loss of protein and thinness of milk. He cited example of China where three persons found guilty of adding melamine in milk were hanged to death.
At this, the PSQCA chairman said the Technical Committee would also take notice of reported permission to add melamine in milk. The judge ordered the PSQCA chairman to appear in court on December 22 with a detailed report on the outcome of the meeting.
The judge also asked Barrister Sidra, the amicus curiae, to collect milk samples sent for testing from a laboratory in London, for which Barrister Syed Ali Zafar had promised to donate Rs 10,000.
Source : The News
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