Food contamination happens with alarming regularity.
He
ordered a second lamb chettinad, its spicy textures triggering some
primordial, addictive urge. After the final bite, folded into crispy
rounds of puri dough, he leaned back to stifle a satisfied belch. His
eyes widened. Pointing indignantly to his plate, he waved the waiter
over. Between the resid ue of mango chutney and a dab of ghee, there was
a curly hair.
He hadn't actually swallowed the hair and must
have seen far worse in the course of frequent eating out. My friend's
reaction seemed totally out of proportion with the minuteness of the
strand. And the waiter, rather than apologising, sloughed it off with a
"these things happen" shrug. My friend became infuriated. The waiter
suggested my friend's excitable nature likely propelled one of his own
hairs onto the plate. The manager was summoned to berate the waiter,
complimentary desserts appeared and what should have been a pleasantly
uneventful meal degenerated into a source of indigestion - all because
of a hair. Setting aside the case of errant hair, what turns up in our
food is not at all a laughing matter. Food safety and security has to be
one of the most significant concerns across the world today.
Commodity
We look to food for its nurturing, restorative and nutritional qualities but the pervasiveness of food scandals should increasingly give us pause. The recent tragedy of children dying and getting sick in Bihar after eating vegetables laced with lethal insecticide is a serious wake up call. Any nation complacent about food does so at great peril. The United States, unfortunately, is a poster case for what should be avoided. Food, like air and water, are essential social goods without which no organism can survive. Despite this truism, the US leads the way in treating food as a mere commodity and source of corporate profits.
Food contamination happens with alarming regularity. I recall a documentary of a mother pleading with a US congressman for more stringent regulations after her child died from eating a tainted hamburger. Beholden to contributions from meat industry lobbies, he gave the distraught mother the waiter's brush-off shrug.
Commodity
We look to food for its nurturing, restorative and nutritional qualities but the pervasiveness of food scandals should increasingly give us pause. The recent tragedy of children dying and getting sick in Bihar after eating vegetables laced with lethal insecticide is a serious wake up call. Any nation complacent about food does so at great peril. The United States, unfortunately, is a poster case for what should be avoided. Food, like air and water, are essential social goods without which no organism can survive. Despite this truism, the US leads the way in treating food as a mere commodity and source of corporate profits.
Food contamination happens with alarming regularity. I recall a documentary of a mother pleading with a US congressman for more stringent regulations after her child died from eating a tainted hamburger. Beholden to contributions from meat industry lobbies, he gave the distraught mother the waiter's brush-off shrug.
Big agro
business, with enormous government subsidies flowing to it and millions
of dollars deployed to stave off meaningful oversight has tipped the
balance of power. And consumer protection groups have become voices in
the wilderness.
As a result, Americans today are slowly but surely being made sick by food that's hyper-processed, packed with additives, chemically modified and nutrition light. Granted, it's not as dramatic and deplorable as children dying from toxic food or malnutrition. But all over the US, there's a steady decline in public health and quality of life from the prevalence of junk food and lack of proper control over the food supply.
Collateral
The irony is that the collateral effects from this shortsightedness are patently obvious. Healthcare costs skyrocket, productivity goes down and there's a general degradation of culture as unhealthy food choices become normalised and quality of food yields to profits, desire for cheapness and consumption based upon all you can eat.
Morbid obesity in the US has become an epidemic and malnutrition also is on the rise. The mayor of New York recently took up the cause by trying to ban supersized, sugar-laden carbonated drinks. The White House too is seeking to promote healthier eating along with regular exercise. They've been accused of attempting to institute a "nanny state" and the junk food lobby has pumped millions into convincing people that freedom entails being able to consume whatever one darn well wants.
It's a cautionary tale for India as the food processing industry develops to prevent spoilage and make getting food from farm to table more seamless and efficient. In crafting an effective food policy, India must place people above profits, heeding lessons from other countries such as the US, where things have gone so horribly wrong.
Punishment
India leads the world in school lunch programs after a Supreme Court order mandated this in 2001. With some 120 million free lunches given to school children across the country, like any program with completely laudable goals, execution is everything. What happened in Bihar reveals deep systemic failures and now is the time to institute accountability.
We need severe punishments for entities that compromise quality and see school lunches as a way to siphon off money for bloated private gain. This is tantamount not only to stealing from public coffers but also robs India of its future, what wellnourished and educated children ultimately represent. A key aspect of food policy also means understanding the entire supply chain. A breakdown in any aspect can have disastrous consequences.
There's a fundamental tension between profiting off feeding people and the imperatives of quality. The history of food abuse runs the gamut from improper labeling, watering down contents and adding cheaper substitutes to insidious use of growth hormones, genetic modifiers and antibiotics. The food industry insists every additive is safe while being notorious for muzzling opposition from scientists and food advocates. Surely the more prudent course is to err on the side of caution.
We also should not be rushing to welcome certain multinationals to India. Somewhere there's a delicate compromise between food efficiency and not putting out of business local grocers with fresh, organic produce.
The Indian love of simple wholesome food must trump eating some glossy-packaged novelty delivered in a can. The push for healthier food is taking hold in the West. Indifferent to public health consequences, Food Inc's focus now is in emerging markets. It's not something to shrug off; instead, we must resolutely resist.
As a result, Americans today are slowly but surely being made sick by food that's hyper-processed, packed with additives, chemically modified and nutrition light. Granted, it's not as dramatic and deplorable as children dying from toxic food or malnutrition. But all over the US, there's a steady decline in public health and quality of life from the prevalence of junk food and lack of proper control over the food supply.
Collateral
The irony is that the collateral effects from this shortsightedness are patently obvious. Healthcare costs skyrocket, productivity goes down and there's a general degradation of culture as unhealthy food choices become normalised and quality of food yields to profits, desire for cheapness and consumption based upon all you can eat.
Morbid obesity in the US has become an epidemic and malnutrition also is on the rise. The mayor of New York recently took up the cause by trying to ban supersized, sugar-laden carbonated drinks. The White House too is seeking to promote healthier eating along with regular exercise. They've been accused of attempting to institute a "nanny state" and the junk food lobby has pumped millions into convincing people that freedom entails being able to consume whatever one darn well wants.
It's a cautionary tale for India as the food processing industry develops to prevent spoilage and make getting food from farm to table more seamless and efficient. In crafting an effective food policy, India must place people above profits, heeding lessons from other countries such as the US, where things have gone so horribly wrong.
Punishment
India leads the world in school lunch programs after a Supreme Court order mandated this in 2001. With some 120 million free lunches given to school children across the country, like any program with completely laudable goals, execution is everything. What happened in Bihar reveals deep systemic failures and now is the time to institute accountability.
We need severe punishments for entities that compromise quality and see school lunches as a way to siphon off money for bloated private gain. This is tantamount not only to stealing from public coffers but also robs India of its future, what wellnourished and educated children ultimately represent. A key aspect of food policy also means understanding the entire supply chain. A breakdown in any aspect can have disastrous consequences.
There's a fundamental tension between profiting off feeding people and the imperatives of quality. The history of food abuse runs the gamut from improper labeling, watering down contents and adding cheaper substitutes to insidious use of growth hormones, genetic modifiers and antibiotics. The food industry insists every additive is safe while being notorious for muzzling opposition from scientists and food advocates. Surely the more prudent course is to err on the side of caution.
We also should not be rushing to welcome certain multinationals to India. Somewhere there's a delicate compromise between food efficiency and not putting out of business local grocers with fresh, organic produce.
The Indian love of simple wholesome food must trump eating some glossy-packaged novelty delivered in a can. The push for healthier food is taking hold in the West. Indifferent to public health consequences, Food Inc's focus now is in emerging markets. It's not something to shrug off; instead, we must resolutely resist.
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