ALLAHABAD:
If you have a sweet tooth, especially during Deepawali, better watch
out. The juicy and sweet gulab jamun you love to enjoy may have boiled
potatoes. Same could be true for delicious pista barfi too even though
it may have the requisite green colour due to peas and not pista.
With the festive season round the corner, adulteration is at its peak as the consumption of sweets, spices, fruits and other eatables is on the rise. Various teams of food safety and drug administration department are conducting raids in various markets to check the menace.
However, in comparison to the magnitude of adulteration and high demand for sweets, their efforts seem to be miniscule. Their task is arduous as five festivals would be celebrated from November 1 (Dhanteras) to November 5 (Bhiaya Duj) and suppliers are well aware of the potential high demand in coming days.
"Sweets with fancy price tags can pose a health hazard if rampant adulteration and poor hygienic conditions prevailing in kitchens and workshops are any indication," said head department of MLN Medical College's gastroenterology department Prof Manisha Dwivedi. Since, adulteration was on the rise, one must be cautious while buying favourite sweet, she added. Soaring prices of ingredients complicate the problem as manufacturers use sub-standard oil along with banned toxic food colours and flavours, said the expert.
Similarly, Prof Jagdamba Singh of the department of Chemistry of Allahabad University said that bright pink, green and yellow sweets look attractive but these colours could be harmful. The sweet makers make excessive use of colours.
"Food grade colours like tartarazine, indigo carmine, fast green and sunset yellow are found in many food items. The situation can be alarming as against the prescribed norm of 100 parts per million (ppm), some of the colours have up to 200 ppm," said Prof Singh.
Chief of department of food safety and drug administration, Hari Mohan Srivastava, who is closely associated with raids on various vendors, be it khoya, paneer (cottage cheese), sweets, oil, spices or vegetables, said "It's better to go for light coloured sweets or more better if you simply go for sweets made of Besan (gram flour) and Chhena as there is less chance of these ingredients being adulterated. For Chhena it is easier to see the symptoms in terms of sweets being stale and moreover it is preserved in refrigerator. But refrain from paneer and sweets made from khoya. If you want to savour khoya sweets then try to purchase it from a reputed shop."
Regarding purity of khoya and paneer, the official said that any product made from milk had to be a bit sweet in taste. Adulteration of any kind would add tartness to the taste. Likewise, for testing purity of khoya, simply rub it on your palm. If it is pure, rubbing would leave your palm oily, he added.
"During sample collection, we have found either turmeric powder or refined oil in sweets. Fat content has been found to be less than prescribed limit in pure ghee sweets. Refined oil has no odour and can be used in place of ghee without detection," he added.
"Toxic colours are easily available and cheaper. Above all they make sweets look attractive. This entices consumers, especially children. However, they could be carcinogenic. Similarly, milk is commonly adulterated with water and may even be contaminated with urea, vanaspati and starch," he added.
"Leave alone adulteration in khoya or sweets made from it, spices too are being adulterated. Papaya seeds are mixed with black pepper, brick dust in chilli powder, synthetic colouring in dried red chillies, rice husk in jeera and garam masala, coloured chalk powder in turmeric powder and ordinary tree bark in Cinnamon. These are only some of the ways to adulterate spices," said another officer.
Unhygienic conditions in which sweets are produced to cater to Diwali demand is another health hazard. "While buying milk and milk products, consumers should ensure that the products are fresh with good flavours and texture," said Dr Manisha Dwivedi.
"Given the possibility of adulteration in sweets that I may be distributing in family, many of my friends have opted for dry fruits. Although they are a bit costlier but more nutritious," said Urmila Upadhayay.
With the festive season round the corner, adulteration is at its peak as the consumption of sweets, spices, fruits and other eatables is on the rise. Various teams of food safety and drug administration department are conducting raids in various markets to check the menace.
However, in comparison to the magnitude of adulteration and high demand for sweets, their efforts seem to be miniscule. Their task is arduous as five festivals would be celebrated from November 1 (Dhanteras) to November 5 (Bhiaya Duj) and suppliers are well aware of the potential high demand in coming days.
"Sweets with fancy price tags can pose a health hazard if rampant adulteration and poor hygienic conditions prevailing in kitchens and workshops are any indication," said head department of MLN Medical College's gastroenterology department Prof Manisha Dwivedi. Since, adulteration was on the rise, one must be cautious while buying favourite sweet, she added. Soaring prices of ingredients complicate the problem as manufacturers use sub-standard oil along with banned toxic food colours and flavours, said the expert.
Similarly, Prof Jagdamba Singh of the department of Chemistry of Allahabad University said that bright pink, green and yellow sweets look attractive but these colours could be harmful. The sweet makers make excessive use of colours.
"Food grade colours like tartarazine, indigo carmine, fast green and sunset yellow are found in many food items. The situation can be alarming as against the prescribed norm of 100 parts per million (ppm), some of the colours have up to 200 ppm," said Prof Singh.
Chief of department of food safety and drug administration, Hari Mohan Srivastava, who is closely associated with raids on various vendors, be it khoya, paneer (cottage cheese), sweets, oil, spices or vegetables, said "It's better to go for light coloured sweets or more better if you simply go for sweets made of Besan (gram flour) and Chhena as there is less chance of these ingredients being adulterated. For Chhena it is easier to see the symptoms in terms of sweets being stale and moreover it is preserved in refrigerator. But refrain from paneer and sweets made from khoya. If you want to savour khoya sweets then try to purchase it from a reputed shop."
Regarding purity of khoya and paneer, the official said that any product made from milk had to be a bit sweet in taste. Adulteration of any kind would add tartness to the taste. Likewise, for testing purity of khoya, simply rub it on your palm. If it is pure, rubbing would leave your palm oily, he added.
"During sample collection, we have found either turmeric powder or refined oil in sweets. Fat content has been found to be less than prescribed limit in pure ghee sweets. Refined oil has no odour and can be used in place of ghee without detection," he added.
"Toxic colours are easily available and cheaper. Above all they make sweets look attractive. This entices consumers, especially children. However, they could be carcinogenic. Similarly, milk is commonly adulterated with water and may even be contaminated with urea, vanaspati and starch," he added.
"Leave alone adulteration in khoya or sweets made from it, spices too are being adulterated. Papaya seeds are mixed with black pepper, brick dust in chilli powder, synthetic colouring in dried red chillies, rice husk in jeera and garam masala, coloured chalk powder in turmeric powder and ordinary tree bark in Cinnamon. These are only some of the ways to adulterate spices," said another officer.
Unhygienic conditions in which sweets are produced to cater to Diwali demand is another health hazard. "While buying milk and milk products, consumers should ensure that the products are fresh with good flavours and texture," said Dr Manisha Dwivedi.
"Given the possibility of adulteration in sweets that I may be distributing in family, many of my friends have opted for dry fruits. Although they are a bit costlier but more nutritious," said Urmila Upadhayay.
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