MADURAI: A week-long inspection by the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department at the hostel inside the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) revealed that unhygienic living conditions, poor maintenance of water tanks and supply of contaminated food were to blame for the recent outbreak of diarrhoea among nursing students.

On Thursday, when a team from the department checked the hostel canteen, they found that cool drinks and milk products in the refrigerator were contaminated.

Expressing grave concern over the reports about manufacturing of “synthetic” milk emanating from various parts of the states close to the national capital, where supply of such milk could not be ruled out, the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and six states seeking reports on the issue.

A bench of Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapaidia and Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar issued the notices to the Centre and states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand asking them to file affidavits specifying action taken by them to check the supply of spurious milk and milk products within four weeks.

JAIPUR: The state government on Tuesday filed a detailed compliance report before a division bench of Rajasthan high court elaborating on the action taken against suppliers of adulterated milk in various parts of the state.

The court will give its final verdict on May 21. A division bench of high court, while hearing a suo moto PIL in March, had asked additional advocate general S N Kumawat to file the action report on the campaign against adulterated milk in Rajasthan.

The Supreme Court Wednesday issued notice to the central and five state governments on a petition seeking complete curb on the sale and supply of synthetic and adulterated milk and its products like ghee, khoya and paneer. An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia issued notice on a petition by Swamy Achuthananda Tirth seeking direction to the centre and state governments to ensure the supply of healthy, hygienic and natural milk and milk products.

In a crack down, Govt has decided to install testing centres at entry points of the City to identify adulterated milk and drain out the affected milk
In a significant move which will benefit Mumbaikars, the State Government has decided to crack down on milk adulteration. Tankers bringing milk to the city will be tested at entry points for adulteration and if it tests positive, the entire stock will be destroyed.

JAIPUR: Over 150 people belonging to the Behrupia tribe fell ill, at least 10 of them seriously, after having a feast at a social get-together in Jamdoli under Kanota police station area on Monday night. Officials said some of the milk-products items were contaminated leading to the food-poisoning. While most of them were discharged after primary treatment, others still were undergoing treatment till Tuesday evening.

SHILLONG: Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Health and Family Welfare, Rowell Lyngdoh, has admitted that the State does not have standardized equipment to check if food items like milk is contaminated.

“All this time out of good faith we believed that the milk which is being supplied by the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department and other local milk producers are not contaminated.

JAIPUR: Even with Holi round the corner and sale of colours picking up, no campaign to check the sale of harmful colours has yet been launched by the state government.

The medical, health and family welfare department has launched a campaign to check the sale of spurious and adulterated sweets but so far no such campaign to prevent the sale of colours with harmful chemicals has been launched.

The newly established Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar, has been granted a patent by the Government of India for commercial production for the “Urea Detection in Milk” technology developed by its Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Sciences for testing Urea in milk. The Milk Testing Kit had been available for common public use since last year. According to the technique, a drop of reagent is put on a filter paper and then a drop of milk is also put on the reagent.

New Delhi Bhim can't understand what he's done wrong. Before dawn every day he joins hundreds of wholesale traders at Delhi's Azadpur Mandi, a sprawling, chaotic market where trucks blare Bollywood music, porters haul huge brown sacks of fruit and vegetables and hawkers ply tea and cigarettes.

His own trade is in rosy red apples, laced with calcium carbide.