Watch What You Eat!

Imagine the lip smacking Kerala fish curry, cyrian beef fry and of course the porotta nicely plated up. Who can resist not indulging in these?
Even as the menus in hotels look enticing, Keralites have learnt to do so, the hard way. To imagine that the shawarma which killed a young man, was from the same hotel we frequent to have chicken biriyani, gives me shudders.

Perhaps a young man had to pay with his life for an entire department to wake up to the reality of the state of hotels in Kerala. On July 10th, 21-year-old Sachin Mathew, had 3 shawarmas from a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram en route to Bangalore. Four days later his family got to know of his unfortunate death. What followed are the knee jerk raids on hotels across the state by the Food and Safety Department. In the past one-month alone 1000 eateries have been inspected, out of which 60 have been asked to shut shop. This is for not following the minimum standards of basic hygiene and serving stale food..

A Corporation health squad led by Mayor K. Chandrika seized stale food from
nine major hotels, including a star hotel, in Thiruvananthapuram in a lightening inspection

The local media is full of news about hotel raids and the kind of stale food that we are being fed. Uncooked meat, animal waste piled up in the kitchen, stagnant dirty water and cans of reused oil, the list can make you go straight to the toilet and puke. To think that this is only the state of affairs in Kerala will be unwise.

The fact is that across our country there is hardly any surveillance over hotels – big and small. Anybody can start one and serve rotten food.  As it was revealed in the raids here, many hotels did not have a proper license or any mandatory certificates from the local body.  It is an open secret how corrupt the Food inspectors are. Many of them sit in the comforts of their AC rooms and stamp away approvals, as long as the right amount of money fall into their cabins.

The Food and Safety Act, 2006 has stringent provisions, but the Centre notified the rules for enforcement of the legislation only last year. The Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act was all about adulteration and penalties, but the 2006 Act [3] is the first attempt in the country to engage in standardization process, defining specific standards for each food item.
The States have been asked to complete the registration and licensing process by August 4. In this first year of implementing the Act, the Food Safety [4] and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI ) will focus on getting solid data on the number of persons engaged in food business in the country. Rough estimates say that about 5.5 crore people are engaged in the food business, including street vendors and home-based food sellers. The FBOs [5] have been categorized on the basis of their annual turnover and those with a turnover of Rs. 12 lakh and above will need a license while those below will need to register themselves under the Act.

In case of substandard, misbranded food or misleading advertisements about food products that are not injurious to health will invite a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. In case of injurious food, the punishment will be imprisonment up to seven years, with a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. In case of death caused due to adulterated food [6] items, the punishment will range from seven years' imprisonment to life, besides a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh.

Like in many other issues in our country it perhaps took the government 65 years to streamline the food industry. Its not the lack of laws, what matters is the will to implement them. Till then, the proof of the pudding is in the eating!

DINAMALAR NEWS

Is ready-to-eat-food a hit?

Packaged food makes it easier to prepare a meal | EPS

The safety of processed and fresh food has not improved in the last two years especially in the cosmopolitan cities. A recent study reveals that Bangalore has fallen prey to this new food habit, considering the fact that it is a growing city.

According to a study by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a non-profit product safety testing and certification organisation, top consumer concerns with regard to processed food are chemical additives, food-borne illness and hygienic conditions to the contradictory belief of the Indian consumers that product safety has improved.
Packaged food is not an old concept and has in fact, been in our society from time immemorial. Today, packaged food consumption is an essential ingredient of our life.
Starting with the morning cup of tea or glass of milk, the cereals or rice mix used for preparing breakfast to wheat during lunch, snacks, sweets - everything comes in a box for the superfast generation.
However, Chetan Hanchate, a food consultant disagrees with the study findings. He said, "Absolutely packaged foods are safe for consumption. Packaged food is not a new concept but today it comes with a modern trend and different function to perform. If packaging was harmful, many people would have been crippled with illnesses.”
“Science and technology has improved to such an extent that it stores the nutrients in a manner that the food remains are as fresh as it would have been. In fact, packaging helps in transportation of the food and other ingredients like cheese to remote places. Otherwise, such products may not have been available in such places. The only difference is that some are ready to eat and some are ready to cook. In the US, they have more of what’s ready to eat but in India we have what’s ready to cook,’’ said Hanchate.
Handling of issues like transportation, packaging and maintaining hygiene has been put under scrutiny after strict compliance of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which was brought into force exactly a year ago.
Underwriters Laboratories says that today women no longer can afford to spend hours in kitchen preparing three meals a day, hence, packaged food has witnessed a rising trend, an easy alternative without knowing the harmful effects attached to it.
India's packaged food industry is likely to touch 30 billion by 2015. These foods makes it quicker and easier to prepare a meal, but it is important to understand the hazards associated with activities such as product packaging, food handling and food storage.
According to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, many people were stricken by the effects of Bisphenol A. It is a hormone-mimicking toxin that has also recently been found to impact our DNA and kill off female ovarian cells in a way that may cause down syndrome and fertility problems in future generations, which was found in packaged foods which is destroyed by simple cooking like boiling. Lalitha, a nutritionist says, “Today, the only thing that comes raw is fruits and vegetables, so, we cannot entirely discard all the packaged food. However, as far as junk and fried packaged food are concerned, it is very difficult to ascertain its sanitary conditions as they all come with a doubt. Something like bread from a highly reputed company has issues with hygiene level, in fact, a local bakery may produce much more fresh and healthy bread and I have witnessed this myself. The only option for the consumers is to check on the nutritional content, for instance if you want to consume a fruit juice, go for the ones which is rich in anti-oxidants like guava and grapes. One needs to spend a little more thought and time on making a choice.’’
All Food Business Operaor (FBO) below Rs 12 lakh have to get themselves registered, from road-side chat sellers to vegetable vendors. When we spoke to the BBMP chief health officer, Manjula, she said, “We do look after the packaged food items but only until a complaint is brought to our notice.’’

Chips, colas junk IQ in children

Kids On Fast Food Diet Have Low Intelligence Compared To Healthy Eaters

Melbourne: Parents, please note! The junk food your kid eats might be affecting his intelligence quotient, a new study has claimed.
    Researchers from the University of Adelaide found children fed healthy diets may have a slightly higher IQ, while those on heavier junk food diets may have a slightly reduced IQ.
    Dr Lisa Smithers from the public health department in the University looked at the link between the eating habits of children at six months, 15 months and two years, and their IQ at eight years of age.
    The study of more than 7,000 children compared a range of dietary patterns, including traditional and contemporary home-prepared food, ready-prepared baby foods, breastfeeding, and ‘discretionary’ or junk foods.
    “Diet supplies the nutrients needed for the development of brain tissues in the first two years of life, and the aim of this study was to look at what impact diet would have on children’s IQs,” Smithers said.
    “We found that children who were breastfed at six months and had a healthy diet regularly including foods such as legumes, cheese, fruit and vegetables at 15 and 24 months, had an IQ up to two points higher by age eight,” Smithers added. “Those children who had a diet regularly involving biscuits, chocolate, sweets, soft drinks and chips in the first two years of life had IQs up to two points lower by age eight,” Smithers said in a statement.
    “We also found some negative impact on IQ from ready-prepared baby foods given at six months, but some positive associations when given at 24 months,” Smithers said. “While the differences in IQ are not huge, this study provides some of the strongest evidence to date that dietary patterns from six to 24 months have a small but significant effect on IQ at eight years of age,” Smithers said. PTI
Butter popcorns tied to Alzheimer’s risk
    Anew study including Indianorigin researchers have raised concern about chronic exposure of workers in industry to a food flavouring ingredient used to produce the buttery flavour and aroma of microwave popcorn, margarines and other snack foods. They found evidence that the ingredient, diacetyl, intensifies the damaging effects of an abnormal brain protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease. PTI

Tackling 3 tonnes of gutkha: Officials await court order

Over three tonnes of seized gutkha sachets sealed in plastic bags are stocked on the fourth floor of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) building in Bandra-Kurla Complex. The total seizure — from 16 raids since July 20 when the state government imposed a ban on gutkha and paan masala — is valued at Rs 78 lakh.
According to officials, the security staff has been updated on the audit with a special vigil kept on the seized commodities. The stock has been deliberately kept on the fourth floor, which is otherwise vacant, as the stench can be overpowering. “We are waiting for the court order on the disposal. It will be a lengthy procedure,” said Suresh Deshmukh, Joint Commissioner, (food), FDA.
The Bombay High Court is currently hearing the matter, with the next date being August 16. The state had filed an affidavit defending the one-year ban, including the products under the definition of “food” under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006. The manufacturers had challenged the state government on the grounds that their product, since governed by the Cigarette and Tobacco Act, 2003, does not come under the ambit of the state-imposed ban.
“If the court approves disposal, we will have to get the sanction of eight state government departments, including the city police. The seized products will then be buried at any of the garbage dumping yard approved by the BMC under the supervision of health officers. There are procedures for this and we will have to follow them,” said Deshmukh.
With the dispute being in court, manufacturers have also started distributing circulars to vendors claiming that gutkha does not come under the ambit of the FSSA as it doesn’t have magnesium carbonate.
“We are aware of this and will continue our raids. If a vendor is found with banned products, he is liable under the Act and the state-imposed ban,” added Deshmukh.
Staff shortage is another issue that the FDA now faces as 45 of the 66 sanctioned posts of safety officers are vacant. “We are relying on the Mumbai Police staff to gather information on places where these goods are being stocked. We have intelligence coming from our safety officers but this is a big fight and we will need the help of the police. One of the consignment was seized after intelligence from Mumbai Crime Branch’s Ghatkopar unit,” he added.

FDA is also targeting its resources on stockists and bigger warehouses. “At least that way we are going for the bigger fish. Once the word spreads, small vendors will stop stocking.”