Sikkim temporarily bans packaged milk amid COVID threat

Gangtok: Adding on to its drive towards a plastic ban and promoting organic products in the state, Sikkim’s animal husbandry department has banned packaged milk from outside the state. The ban, though labelled ‘temporary’ will come into effect from January 19. The reason sorted is COVID-19 spread.

In a notification dated January 17, the department mentioned, “There are various forms of fresh, processed and unprocessed pouches and cans of milk entering from outside the state for marketing within Sikkim. Random quality tests and consumer observations of these milk supplies from private entities report that such milk sources either not meeting the quality requirements or inconsistent in their quality standards.”

The notification further mentions, “such milk sources are not being regulated or monitored for quality assurances including for their handling, processing and maintenance of cold chain. Further, the manual handling on the surface area of these pouches and milk in cans are very high, the chances of spreading COVID 19 through these means are very high.”