The Army has rejected a consignment of Verka whole milk powder supplied by the Punjab Government’s dairy cooperative, Milkfed, to its unit in Jammu after reportedly finding it “non-compliant with the prescribed standards”.In a letter to the Ludhiana District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, the Officer Commanding of the Army Service Corps in Jammu said nearly 125 metric tonnes of whole milk powder supplied to them by the Ludhiana unit of Milkfed was being rejected due to “some extraneous substances present in the milk powder”.A sample of 753 kg of whole milk powder was tested by the Food Inspection Organisation, a specialised technical body that monitors edible items procured for the armed forces, at the Integrated Headquarter of the Ministry of Defence. The sample was reportedly found “non-compliant with the prescribed standards during analysis”. It was tested twice and rejected; the last intimation of rejection of sample to Milkfed came on March 12.However, Milkfed authorities told The Tribune that this was just a one-off incident and the supplies to the Army were continuing.“Milkfed maintains a multi-layered quality assurance framework. It incorporates rigorous in-house testing at raw material, in-process and finished product stages, in accordance with prescribed specifications,” said a senior officer in Cooperation Department, Punjab.Officials in the state dairy cooperative said two batches of whole milk powder–one of 58.338 MT and second of 66.654 MT– were sent to the Army Service Corps a few months ago. The consignment was rejected on February 27 after a sample failed. Milkfed authorities reportedly appealed to the Ministry of Defence to get the sample checked again. The second test also failed and the consignment was again rejected on March 12. The Tribune is in possession of both letters sent by the Army to the state dairy cooperative.Milkfed supplies cheese, whole milk powder, ultra high temperature processed milk, tetra pack lassi and flavoured milk worth Rs 100 crore per annum to the Army.Milkfed Managing Director Rahul Gupta said the state dairy cooperative was among the best in the country and accorded the highest importance to the quality control and checks when milk and milk products are purchased, processed, packaged and sent for wholesale or retail sale. “We are setting up a fact-finding committee to know why the whole milk powder was rejected. The Army is our most valued customer. We are proud to be their trusted supplier of milk and milk products for several decades. We will be undertaking further testing of this lot of milk powder at NDDB Calf lab to ensure objective validation of results. Never before has any complaint of rejection of our products been received. It does not say the product was substandard, only that there was presence of extraneous (thread like) substance, which could have happened during packaging or handling,” he said.Meanwhile, opposition leaders have questioned the Punjab Government over the issue and demanded a high-level inquiry. Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said if a product failed to meet the Army’s standards, its distribution among the general public was a serious health concern. Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring called for fixing responsibility, saying “criminal negligence has tarnished the prestigious brand”. SAD leader Bikram Majithia said this spoke of gross negligence on part of the government.