Why do people add urea to milk?

Milk is the very nutritious dairy product in daily life. The milk is highly perishable product. It is
a complex liquid but one of nature’s most complete food. The constituent of milk are protein, fat,
water, and lactose. Milk also contains amount of other substances like enzymes, vitamin,
phospholipid and gases. Due to its nutritional properties, this white liquid consumed by people of
all age groups as an important food component in their regular diet. Hence adulteration becomes
common due to the demand for milk. Urea in adulterated milk is one of the major health
concerns; it is especially harmful to pregnant women, children, and the elderly.
Adulterate milk with urea raise milk solid not fat (SNF) percentage in milk to get higher price
than the milk actually deserves (Milk is priced based on fat percentage and SNF percentage).
Food adulteration is a serious problem faced by human population today. Adulteration of food is
commonly practiced by traders in India; it poses a major threat to human health.
FSSAI’s (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) National Survey on Milk Adulteration
(2011) which has revealed that addition of water to milk is most common adulterant in rural and
urban areas of different states of India. The addition of water dilutes milk resulting into decrease
in specific gravity. For maintain this specific gravity consequently urea is added to the resultant
milk for raising its solid not fat (SNF) value to give it a concentrated and rich appearance.
Depending on the amount of water mixed, urea concentration is adjusted for making the specific
gravity of the fabricated milk equal to that of the natural milk so that the lactometer fails to
detect any difference.
Urea is added to provide whiteness, increase the thickness of milk and for leveling the contents
of solid not fat (SNF) as are present in natural milk. Urea in the milk affects the kidney badly as
they have to filter out more urea from the body.
Dairies have a variety of equipment, including the Eco-milk analyzer, which can measure FAT,
SNF (Solid Not Fat), added water, proteins, freezing point, and density. But urea adulteration is
detected by chemical methods in laboratory.