Bhopal. On the lines of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, now the Madhya Pradesh government has also decided to impose a complete ban on the production, sale and use of analog cheese. On Wednesday, Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav gave clear instructions for this in the meeting of officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department. The aim of the government is to promote natural milk production by curbing fake and adulterated food items.
Actually, analog cheese is prepared as a substitute for real milk. In its preparation, vegetable fat, starch and other chemicals/ingredients are used instead of real milk or along with milk. Due to low cost, its consumption had increased significantly in hotels, restaurants and dhabas in the market. In Madhya Pradesh, it is estimated that about 300 to 400 quintals of analog cheese will be sold daily i.e. about 900 to 1200 tons of analog cheese in a month. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav says that we will increase milk production naturally and make cheese naturally.
In the meeting held at the Chief Minister’s residence before leaving for Gujarat on Wednesday, Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that like other states, analog cheese is being completely banned in Madhya Pradesh too. He clarified that the state government will encourage natural milk production and only the production of quality cheese made from real milk will be promoted, so that the health of the general public is not compromised.
It is noteworthy that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also taken a strict stance on the sale of analog cheese. Commission member Priyank Kanungo termed analog cheese as dangerous for health and said that merely writing statutory warnings (like on cigarette packets) does not reduce the risk. He talked about issuing a notice to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and clarified that it is difficult to catch it through simple testing, hence the right step is to impose a complete ban on it by the states.