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False Claim! Video About Artificial Milk Being Made Using Chemicals In Bharuch, Gujarat Actually Of Phenyl
Gujarat, 9 Jun 2022 10:05 AM GMT
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The video of a person mixing chemicals has been circulating on WhatsApp with claims that this is how India meets its daily requirement of 50 crore litres of milk. The Logical Indian Fact Check Team verified the viral claim.
A video of artificial milk being made from chemicals is being circulated on WhatsApp, with claims that this is how milk is manufactured to meet India's daily requirement of 50 crore litres, and that people might stop drinking milk after knowing the truth about the milk industries.
Milk adulteration is a growing problem in India, and this video uses that reasoning to show how milk is made from harmful chemicals in industries. The video starts by saying that a person might stop drinking milk if they saw this video, and then goes on to talk about how this is the way India fulfills its daily requirement of 50 crore litres of milk while showing a person mixing a dark liquid, said to a chemical, with another liquid, which turns into a milky white emulsion.
The narrator adds that this video has been taken from Bharuch's industrial area, where a worker from one of the milk adulteration factories complained against the owner of the respective factory. He then goes on to explain how the chemical is either hot or dangerous and that the person is holding it with tongs, and after mixing water in it, the 'artificial milk' is made. He adds that this video is proof that India's only supplier of milk isn't cows and buffaloes. The video also tells 5 tests that a person can do to check if the milk is pure or artificial.
This was viral on social media back in 2020 too.
Fake Milk in India.... 😡
Posted by Rajesh Lakhani on Monday, 3 February 2020
We received messages on our WhatsApp fact check no. +91-6364000343 requesting to fact check the claim.
Claim:
Industries in Bharuch are manufacturing artificial milk using dangerous chemicals, to fulfill India's requirement for milk.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be false.
To start, we checked the pincode written on the drum. 393002 is the postal code for Ankleshwar, which is an industrial area in Bharuch, Gujarat. It is also known as Gujarat's 'city of Oil', and is popular for its industrial township, the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC). GIDC Industrial Estate is also written on the drum.
The industrial area has over 2000 industries registered under the GIDC and as part of the Ankleshwar Industries Association (AIA). The industries include chemical and manufacturing plants, for products like insecticides, paints, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
Upon further search, we came across many videos similar to this, where water is added to a darker liquid chemical to form a milky white emulsion. Those videos are of the at-home preparation of Phenyl and not milk. You can find these videos here and here.
This process is similar to people buying the white phenyl concentrate for use at home, for cleaning, etc, and adding water to the solution before doing so. The formula for white phenyl is Phenyl Concentrate (Turkey Red Oil + Pine Oil) and water, and multiple phenyl manufacturers sell only the concentrate which can then be mixed with water by the user.
Additionally, the liquid that falls on the drum while the person is mixing the phenyl doesn't look like milk either. The person was also using tongs to handle the concentrate, for which tongs aren't necessarily needed, and this would explain why he was handling the glasses, with the 'dangerous liquid', with his hands for the rest of the video.
However, milk adulteration is a real problem in India, and according to a 2020 study by the Consumer Guidance Society of India, 79% of the milk available in Maharashtra is adultered, as reported by The Hindu. According to a 2018 study conducted by the Animal Welfare Board, 68.7% of the milk and milk byproduct production in India was found to be laced with polluting ingredients, as reported by the Economic Times.
The Logical Indian Fact Check Team verified the claim and found it to be false. The video is not of artificial milk, but of a process of manufacturing phenyl, which is being shared with a wrong description. This is not to disregard the problem of milk adulteration in the country.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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