New Delhi: Bangalore-based company Neolacta Lifesciences Pvt Ltd. sells breast milk. It is the first company in Asia that sells breast milk for profit. Now it has come into controversy. Food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has canceled the license of the company after several activists raised objections saying that the sale of mother’s milk is not allowed under the rules.
The license was obtained from the Karnataka office of FSSAI
However, an FSSAI inspection revealed that the company got the AYUSH license for its product ‘Narikshara’ (mother’s milk) in November 2021. According to TOI news, Neolacta Lifesciences Private Limited was established in the year 2016. The company had taken a license from the Karnataka office of FSSAI in the dairy product category.
Nupur Birla of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI) says, “It is absolutely shocking that a company is being allowed to collect milk from mothers and sell it as a dairy product.”
The MD of the company said this thing
Saurabh Agarwal, MD, Neolacta said that the company has experience in supplying human milk technology to set up the first milk bank in Australia. He said that Neolacta has benefited more than 51 thousand premature babies in 450 hospitals in the last five years.
The donated mother’s milk is mainly used to feed premature or sick babies. Generally, milk is procured through milk banks set up as non-profits. Milk collected from donors is pasteurized, nutrient content tested and frozen, and preserved. Milk received in milk banks attached to government hospitals is given free of cost to the needy.
Price of Neolacta
Neulasta charges Rs 4,500 for 300 ml of frozen breast milk. A pre-term baby may need around 30 ml of milk daily while a normal baby may need up to 150 ml daily. Neolacta also sells human milk powder, which is available on the company’s platform apart from e-commerce websites.
