MILK AND MILK PRODUCT ORDER 1992
The Government of India had promulgated the Milk and Milk Product Order (MMPO) 1992 on 9/6/92 under the provisions of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 consequent to de-licensing of Dairy Sector in 1991. As per the provisions of this order, any person/dairy plant handling more than 10,000 liters per day of milk or 500 MT of milk solids per annum needs to be registered with the Registering Authority appointed by the Central Government. The objective of the order is to maintain and increase the supply of liquid milk of desired quality in the interest of the general public and also for regulating the production, processing, and distribution of milk and milk products.
Recognizing the necessity for suitable amendments in Milk and Milk Product Order-1992 for faster growth in the dairy sector, the Government of India has amended the Milk and Milk Product Order-92 from time to time to make it more liberal and oriented to facilitate dairy entrepreneurs. The Government of India has notified the last amendment proposals in the official Gazette on 26/3/02. Now there is no restriction on setting up new milk processing, while noting that the requirement of registration is for enforcing the prescribed sanitary, hygienic conditions and quality and food safety measures as specified in the Vth Schedule of MMPO-1992.
The salient features of the new amendments made are as follows:
The provision of assigning milkshed has been done away with.
The registrations under MMPO-92 will now cover sanitary, hygienic condition, quality, and food safety measures as specified in Vth Schedule of MMPO-1992.
The provision of inspection of dairy plants has been made flexible.
The provision to grant registration in 90 days has been reduced to 45 days subject to submission of the application in complete form.
The power of registration of State Registering Authority has been raised from 1.00 lakh liters per day to 2.00 lakh liters per day.
Altogether the Central and the State Registering Authorities have registered 818 units with a combined milk processing capacity of 952.93 lakh liters per day in Co-operative, Private, and Government Sector as of 31.3.2007.
