A group of alert citizens on Thursday laid a trap and busted a racket of milk adulteration at Prabhadevi in Dadar. Residents of Shivadarshan Cooperative Housing Society noticed that the milk that they have been consuming did not form the thin layer of cream that it normally should on being heated, nor did it mix with tea, as it should. “I had been noticing this for a while and on October 1, I decided to check with my neighbours because the same vendor delivered milk to our society,” said Sameer Surve, a resident of the society. When Mr Surve checked with the neighbours, he was told that they had been experiencing the same. The next day, Mr Surve along with other families in the society, checked the milk packets that were delivered, and they realised that the packaging was odd. “The edges of the milk packet were really odd, it had a zig-zag pattern on the top, but towards the ends one could see that the plastic had been stuck with a hot-press,” said Mr Surve. Mr Surve along with the corporator of the area, Seema Shivalkar, approached the police with the milk packets. The police confirmed that the milk packets were tampered with which was a clear indication of adulteration. The police, with the help of the residents, laid a trap on October 3 and caught hold of the vendor. The vendor instantly admitted that he, along with three others, operated out of Dharavi and mixed water in the milk packets. “The police arrested the vendor and three other accused. They would puncture the milk packets, drain a certain amount of milk and add the same amount of water in the packet and seal it back and then distribute the packets to the customers. We have collected samples, which have been sent to the lab. The reports are expected in four to five days,” said Vijay Gaikwad, food safety officer, FDA.
