2 out of 3 households in Delhi-NCR believe milk they are consuming is not pure, finds survey

The survey by LocalCircles was conducted to understand how households consume milk, their preferences, as well as issues with quality and freshness of milk products.

FSSAI takes U-turn on its advisory on A1 and A2 labels | Representational image | Pixabay

New Delhi: Two out of three households in the Delhi-NCR region believed that the milk they consume is “not pure”, according to a survey conducted by community social media platform LocalCircles. Only one-third respondents thought they were getting “pure cow or buffalo milk”.

The survey was conducted to understand how households consumed milk, their preferences, as well as issues with quality and freshness of milk products. The survey also encouraged respondents to question their milk supplier on the supply chain aspects, in order to make fact-based contributions to the exercise.

It received over 45,000 responses from consumers across all districts of Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad. While 63 per cent were men, 37 per cent were women.

Of the 9,230 responses, 58 per cent said they purchased 1.5 litre or more milk every day and nearly 1 in 3 households in the Delhi-NCR region said they consumed half to one litre of milk daily.

Around 73 per cent respondents said they bought milk in pouches. As many as 38 per cent shared that they get branded milk delivered at home in pouches and another 35 per cent said they purchase branded milk from outlets or retail stores. Only 23 per cent households said they get “loose” milk or what is delivered at their doorstep by milkmen.

Of the two-third respondents who believed that the milk they were getting was not pure, 21 per cent thought it contained water, fat and milk powder. Another 21 per cent believed that the milk procured by them also has adulterants and 17 per cent thought the milk bought by them was being diluted with water.

Around 96 per cent Delhi-NCR households surveyed said the milk they consume travels over 250 km, and takes several days before reaching their doorstep.

Feedback received from consumers also revealed that many households in Delhi-NCR wanted dairy farming to be encouraged in nearby districts so that more milk can be produced and distributed locally.