BANGLADESH Food Safety Authority has found gaping leaks along cow milk processed for pasteurization. The food safety authority took the sample from all the registered companies for pasteurization and detected bacteria and E Coli at levels higher than permissible. Some of the test results came as a shock to the authority, prompting them to undertake immediate inspection of pasteurization plants. Newspaper reports stated that eleven companies are in the business of cow milk pasteurization but none of them maintains proper guideline, including the cold supply chain. The sheer negligence of the companies in milk pasteurization is a big threat for public health. Thousands of people, especially babies and school-going children, mostly depend on these companies for their everyday demand of milk.
Most importantly, the children who are served pasteurized milk are vulnerable to the bacterial diseases. ICDDR,B research in last May revealed that three-fourths of pasteurized milk was unsafe for direct consumption. In the ideal case, pasteurized milk is supposed to be free from dangerous pathogens and safe enough for consumption without cooking. Pasteurization is a process in which milk is heated to a certain temperature for a fixed period of time to kill disease-causing organisms in it.
Though the cold chain is central to the pasteurization technology; companies have resource constraints and lack of awareness to maintain the cold chain. Pasteurized milk may still contain organisms but makes sure that the harmful ones are eliminated. If the cold chain is not maintained, organisms still present in the milk turn pathogenic within an hour in weather conditions like that of in Bangladesh. Once pasteurized, the milk must be preserved in temperature below 4 degrees Celsius.
In some plants, tested milk found positive for a high concentration of pathogenic bacteria, meaning pasteurization was not conducted properly. As pasteurization is a highly technical task, lack of trained manpower in the plants is devastating. Pasteurization kills pathogens causing tuberculosis, brucellosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and Q-fever, among others. If the milk contains pathogens it will lead the consumers to death. The government should strengthen the monitoring of the pasteurization plants and ensure proper punishment to the responsible persons for failing to maintain the cold supply chain. It is a matter of public health.
