Warnings issued as Indian police raid milk factories

Doctors in northern India today issued a warning to avoid eating dairy-based sweets ahead of a major Hindu festival.

The announcement came after police raids at two factories found them making milk and milk products with detergent and animal fat.

Some 28 people were arrested after the raids yesterday in two towns in Uttar Pradesh state, police official Brij Lal said.

He said 264 gallons (1,000 litres) of synthetic milk were seized.

"Milk products manufactured from urea, caustic soda and animal fat were recovered from two makeshift factories," Mr Lal said.

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is on Saturday and pushes up demand for milk and milk products that are used to make traditional sweets that are consumed and sent as gifts during the holiday.

"During the festive season the demand of sweets goes up and people manufacture synthetic milk to meet this demand," Mr Lal said.

The synthetic milk is prepared by mixing urea, caustic soda, cheap cooking oil and common detergent. Detergents are added to emulsify and dissolve the oil in water - giving the frothy solution the colour of white milk, according to N.C. Khanna, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research.

Refined oil is used as a substitute for milk fat and the synthetic milk is added to natural milk before it is sold, he said, adding that caustic soda is added to the blended milk to neutralise the acidity, thereby preventing it from turning sour.

Doctors say the synthetic milk is carcinogenic and the urea and caustic soda are very harmful to the heart, liver and kidneys.

"Caustic soda could prove fatal for people suffering from hypertension and heart ailments," said Dr Lalit Saxena said.