TN Dairy Minister Vows Recovery After 81 T Butter Spoils
Tamil Nadu’s dairy sector was rocked by the spoilage of 81 tonnes of Aavin butter worth ₹4.21 crore that had been procured from a Uttar Pradesh-based dairy earlier this year to meet festive demand. The large-volume butter consignment developed a foul odour while in cold storage, triggering quality control alarm bells and sparking a formal inquiry by Aavin’s inspection teams. Preliminary checks suggest the spoilage arose after delivery, possibly linked to substandard stock or storage failures, prompting Aavin to blacklist the supplier pending full test results.
Addressing farmer concerns about the financial impact, T. Mano Thangaraj, Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Milk and Dairy Development, assured that the entire ₹4.21 crore loss would be recovered from the Uttar Pradesh dairy and would not be borne by the cooperative or the state. The minister emphasised that farmers “need not worry” about incentive disruptions as a result of this incident, and directed officials to withhold any further payments to the supplier until the issue is resolved.
The episode highlights persistent supply-chain risks in dairy procurement, particularly for high-value products like butter that require strict temperature control and handling discipline from farm through transport to processing facilities. Grade-A dairy products are vulnerable to bacterial growth and quality degradation when cold chains are breached — even after pasteurisation and chilling — underscoring the need for rigorous refrigerated logistics, real-time temperature monitoring and supplier vetting across federations like Aavin.
Industry analysts say such incidents can dent consumer confidence unless corrective steps are taken swiftly, including revisiting storage protocols, tightening tender norms for quality assurance, and deploying stronger end-to-end cold chain infrastructure — a long-overlooked structural gap in India’s dairy ecosystem that can undermine farm incomes and processor credibility alike.
Source : Dairynews7x7 Feb 18th 2026 Read full story here
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