Plan to police milk producers selling on the sly

CATTLE FARMERS producing more than their milk quota and selling it to small dairy manufacturers on the sly could soon be penalised, the Cyprus Organisation of Cattle Farmers said yesterday.

The excess milk, which is not checked for its suitability, is then used to make cheese and dairy products that end up on consumers' plates.

"It ends up being used to make halloumi and other cheeses which are then, for example, sold to canteens on the cheap," Cattle Farmers' Organisation General Manager Nikos Papakyriakou said, adding that the practice had been going on for years.

The Organisation's chairman, Savvas Evangelou, estimated that the extra milk amounted to around two million litres per year.