Indian Ghee Contaminated with Animal Fat

[Guest guest]

By Antony Brennan, originally posted at ISKCON News (www. news.

iskon. com) on 19 Nov 2007

 

Laboratory tests reveal that many brands of ghee manufactured in

India are adulterated with the body fat of animals. The lab report

says the only way to guarantee the purity of your ghee is to make it

yourself.

 

Using an Infrared Spectrum test, Anatech laboratory research center

analyzed a variety of brands and confirmed that much of India's ghee

production is contaminated.

 

" We had samples tested and it has proved positive for animal fat

beyond any doubt, " Bhakti Raghava Swami who organized the research

said.

 

Anatech laboratory was chosen for the tests after approaching a

variety of labs. " Anatech was the only lab which had facilities to

accurately identify the contaminants, " Bhakti Raghava Maharaj

said. " The others could tell if it was adulterated but not

particularly by animal fats, " he said . The lab reported that some

ghee contained up to 15% animal fat

 

India TV, amongst other channels, aired footage filmed at some of

the ghee manufacturing plants. The footage revealed what vegetarians

had feared. It confirmed that animals were being rendered and their

fat added to ghee products.

 

" There were bodies of dead animals all around, " said Madhavendu Dasa

after seeing the news reports. " There were scenes of animal fat

boiling in big drums and some where slabs of fat were just hanging, "

he said.

 

One factory allegedly adulterates ghee with a chemical named Styrai

which is usually only used for detergent and soap. Excessive

consumption of Styrai is said to cause liver diseases including

cancer.

 

In India, milk and milk products attract only a 5% profit margin. In

order to compete effectively in the market some manufacturers have

taken the step of adulterating their products to reduce the base

cost and increase the profit margin. The discovery and subsequent

reporting of the ghee deception may prove to reduce the profits of

many ghee producer.

 

Anatech laboratory research center has also tested milk and other

milk products to reveal that some brands are adulterated with

vegetable oil or are a mix between cow and buffalo milk.

[Guest guest]

this has to stop. India needs to get back to satya please. I know I am not

perfect and by all means you can yell at me for it. but please at least our

ghee should be pure as it is very much a mahathaliam. a very powerful one to

say the least. ghee is such a nurturer and wonderful substance.

 

 

 

sincerely,

 

Raja G. Gursahani

[Guest guest]

I wonder if the ayurvedic companies using ghee check this???

 

_____________________________

 

but please at least our

ghee should be pure as it is very much a mahathaliam.

[Guest guest]

ok ok before i can get all excited about this, i would like to see

some independent verification of this fact

the reports issued only come from pro-vegetarian groups like ISKCON

and do not cite their source

 

one source (http://www.varnasrama.org/_varn_new/?

option=com_content & task=view & sectionid=12 & id=54) states that the test

conducted on " Dynamix " brand cow ghee was the " Fancier-Transbraned

Infra-red spectrum Replication test "

 

this test looked suspicious to me, so i searched for it online and no

such test could be found, so either it doesn't exist or the reporter

mangled the actual name of the test so badly as to be unrecognizable,

which brings into question their journalistic integrity

 

the ignorance astounds when the press releases and the outraged

comments posted to them condemn the fact that there is " animal fat "

in ghee

 

mercy me! - ghee IS animal fat, and when you break it down is

chemically very similar to lard

 

the main difference between ghee and lard would be the presence of

fatty acids like butyric acid, pigments (eg. beta carotene) and

aromatic diacetyls, but overall, its fatty acid profile is very

similar, abundant in the twin " evils " of saturated fat and cholesterol

 

one way to make sure your ghee is real is to buy pure desi ghee that

has been made with fermented milk, i.e. churned from yoghurt

 

this kind of ghee is very easy to distinguish from ghee made from

creamery butter, which is how 99.9% of the ghee is made in the west,

and we can probably assume, is also how they are doing it in india

nowadays

 

real (desi) ghee should have a very strong, pungent flavor, whereas

creamy ghee is very bland in comparison

real ghee is good for agni; creamy ghee will tend to create ama

 

btw, recent data in india suggests that the bigger concern is the

presence of pesticides in ghee and milk products generally:

 

Environ Monit Assess. 2005 Jun;105(1-3):111-20.

Monitoring of butter and ghee (clarified butter fat) for pesticidal

contamination from cotton belt of Haryana, India.

Kumari B, Singh J, Singh S, Kathpal TS.

 

Department of Entomology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar

Haryana, India. beena

 

Butter (45) and ghee (55) samples were collected from rural and urban

areas of cotton growing belt of Haryana and analysed for detecting

the residues of organochlorine, synthetic pyrethroid and

organophosphate insecticides. The estimation was carried out by using

multi residue analytical technique employing GC-ECD and GC-NPD

systems equipped with capillary columns. Butter samples were

comparatively more contaminated (97%) than ghee (94%), showing more

contamination with organochlorine insecticides from urban samples.

About 11% samples of butter showed endosulfan residues above MRL

value and 2% samples had residues of synthetic pyrethroids and

organophosphates each above their respective MRL values. In ghee,

residues of HCH & DDT both and of endosulfan exceeded the MRL values

in 5 and 20% samples, respectively. Among organophosphates, only

chlorpyriphos was detected with 9% samples showing its residue above

MRL value. Irrespective of contamination levels, residues above the

MRL values were more in ghee. More extensive study covering other

agricultural regions/zones of Haryana has been suggested to know the

overall scenario of contamination of milk products.

 

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2004 Nov;59(3):324-31.

Contamination of liquid milk and butter with pesticide residues in

the Ludhiana district of Punjab state, India.

Battu RS, Singh B, Kang BK.

 

Pesticide Residue Laboratory, Department of Entomology, Punjab

Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141004, India.

 

An analysis of 92 samples of liquid milk from Ludhiana, India, during

1999-2001 revealed the presence of DDT in 6 (7.4%) samples and of

these 2 samples were found to exceed the maximum residue limit (MRL)

of DDT fixed at 0.05 mg kg(-1) (on a whole milk basis). HCH residues

were detected in 49 (53.3%) samples and constituted only gamma-HCH

(lindane). The MRL of lindane is fixed at 0.01 mg kg(-1) (whole milk

basis), and all 49 liquid milk samples exceeded this value. These

results are indicative of contamination of bovine milk with pesticide

residues as a result of the ban on the use of DDT and HCH in

agriculture and public health programs. Similarly, analysis of 40

samples of butter showed the presence of DDT and HCH in 28 and 8

samples, respectively. However, none of the samples exceeded the MRL

value of either DDT or any isomer of HCH. DDT residues comprised

mainly p,p-DDE and p,p-TDE, whereas HCH residues were present as

lindane in 6 samples, and 2 samples revealed the presence of beta-

HCH. The estimated daily intake of lindane (gamma-HCH) through the

consumption of contaminated liquid milk exceeded its acceptable daily

intake value for children.

 

 

Caldecott, Dip. Cl.H, RH(AHG)

Ayurvedic practitioner, Medical Herbalist

203 - 1750 East 10th Ave

Vancouver, BC V5N 5K4 CANADA

web: http//:www.toddcaldecott.com

email: todd

tel: (1)778.896.8894

fax: (1)866.703.2792

 

_____

but please at

least our

ghee should be pure as it is very much a mahathaliam. a very

powerful one to

say the least. ghee is such a nurturer and wonderful substance.