DCD milk powder issue, artificially created - Minister Ranawaka

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Technology, Research and Atomic Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said his Ministry is competent to handle the controversial DCD milk powder issue and also prevent such incidents occurring in future.

"We are geared to the requisite level of modernising our facilities.

A state-of-the-art laboratory will be set up at Malabe soon with the assistance of the Japanese Government. Sri Lankan scientists are ready to take up this challenge. Apart from imported milk powder other imported food commodities such as alcoholic beverages, wheat flour and sugar will also be tested in our laboratories," the Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

The Minister said he hoped that doctors, specialists and others will educate the consumers on the real situation of the DCD milk powder issue. We hope that all officials would follow the guidelines given by professionals.

He said Sri Lanka's laboratories are equipped with all facilities to conduct these tests and Sweden has given accreditation. We have our own accreditation board too. Some laboratories and institutions in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India and the Maldives have been accredited by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (SLAB).

Minister Ranawaka said the milk powder issue had been artificially created with an advertising budget of Rs. 400 million. They anticipated a big scarcity, but there was no such thing in the market.

Asked whether it would be possible to switch to liquid milk consumption overnight, the Minister said Sri Lanka can easily achieve the self-sufficiency target in milk. We have 20 million people.

Therefore if a person needs 100 millilitres of liquid milk per day we need only two million litres per day. A milch cow can provides five litre of fresh milk per day. Therefore, need only 500,000 milch cows to achieve this target, he said.