- Dr Kalpagam Polasa, director-in-charge, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, inaugurating the seminar at St Teresa’s College in Kochi | Express
A UGC-sponsored two-day national seminar on ‘Food Safety- Concern and
Issues’ was conducted at Sr Teresa’s College the other day. Dr
Kalpagam Polasa, director-in-charge, National Institute of Nutrition,
Hyderabad inaugurated the seminar.
In her keynote address, Polasa
gave a comprehensive view of food safety concerns that exist in our
country. While stressing on the need for food safety at all levels of
the food chain, she highlighted the critical food safety issues at
various stages, from agricultural production, storage, transport to
consumption.
She elaborated on the fraudulent claims and
misbranding of functional foods flooding the market, the need for
nutrient risk assessment, use of safe and intelligent packaging
materials to prevent adulteration and the importance of having a robust
outbreak-handling mechanism with early detection and traceability.
Polasa
also mentioned the need for imposing stringent import laws in the
country. She exhorted the students to be socially responsible and spend
at least 20 percent of one’s lifetime energy for socially-relevant
causes and said that the smallest of thought can create great ripples of
change.
Sr Teresa, the college principal, in her presidential
address, referred to the issue of food safety and standards quoting the
alarming food safety issues that have recent made headlines in the
state. She emphasized ‘we are what we eat’ and thus it is imperative
that the youth of the country resort to safe food habits. The other key
sessions of the seminar includes food safety management systems and
environmental toxins, safety concerns of commercially-vended foods and
quality assurance a public health perspective. Sheelamma Jacob, head of
the Department of Home Science, welcomed the gathering and Shilpa Jose,
faculty department, Home Science, proposed the vote of thanks.
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