The Ludhiana plant of Milkfed Punjab (Verka brand) supplied dried milk powder to an Indian Army unit (Army Service Corps unit in Jammu). During quality checks, two batches failed, leading to the rejection of the entire consignment.
SNPNEWS.IN News (Gurmail Kamboj): Punjab’s cooperative organisation, the Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (Milkfed Punjab), supplied two batches of dried milk powder from its Ludhiana plant to an Indian Army unit in Jammu during January-February 2026. The batches were approximately 58.338 metric tonnes and 66.654 metric tonnes respectively, making the total consignment around 125 metric tonnes (1250 quintals). This supply was dispatched from the Ludhiana plant.During testing, both samples were found to be of sub-standard quality. Extraneous substances were detected, including white threads (from bag stitching) mixed in the powder. Due to this, the Army has instructed Milkfed to collect back all the supplied packets within 7 days.
In January-February 2026, the Indian Army rejected the entire consignment of whole milk powder supplied by Punjab Government’s cooperative dairy Milkfed (Verka brand) to one of its units. The total quantity was approximately 125 metric tonnes (1250 quintals). The Army conveyed its decision to reject the tender through an official letter to the Ludhiana District Cooperative Milk Producers Union. A copy of this letter was also marked to the Food Inspection Organisation (FIO) under the Ministry of Defence.
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Milkfed’s Managing Director Rahul Gupta has taken the matter seriously and constituted a fact-finding committee to investigate the lapse and take action against the responsible officials. He has immediately suspended Three officials from the Ludhiana plant.
However, according to the latest reports, Milkfed has actually suspended three officials with immediate effect for grave misconduct under the relevant service rules:
● Daljit Singh — General Manager (GM), Ludhiana Milk Union/Plant
● Guriqbal Singh — Manager (Quality Control)
● Paritosh Mishra — Manager (Production)
Rahul Gupta stated that Milkfed takes quality very seriously and has also requested the Army for a re-sampling. According to him, such lapses usually occur at the bagging/packaging stage.
Milkfed has been supplying dairy products (milk powder, ghee, cheese, etc.) to the Indian Army for a long time. The Ludhiana plant is the main supplier of dried milk powder. This incident can seriously damage the reputation of the Verka brand, especially since quality is of utmost importance for supplies to a sensitive organisation like the Army.
This development has raised serious questions about quality control and administrative oversight at Milkfed’s Ludhiana unit. Opposition parties have strongly criticised the AAP government over the issue.