A bitter aftertaste

Consumer inaction after suspecting foul play with their food, can lead to dangerous consequences in the long run.

A banker friend of Rajam Ganesan found worms inside a packet of baby food he had bought for his 3-year-old child . When he tried to return it to the retailer and filed a written complaint against the brand, seeking clarification, the retailer simply put back the letter in the same box the food was packed in.

“The packet didn’t reach the brand owners and was just kept aside like any other item in the shop. A theatre-owner was the unlucky next customer of that packet for his twin daughters. The mother who found the letter, was however illiterate, and she thought the complaint was just a paper of the product’s specifications. In the next few days, one of her children died. The issue went unreported as the parents didn’t want to take up the issue; the damage was already done, they felt,” Rajam said at a panel discussion on ‘Food Safety – Consumer Rights’ earlier this week.

In the advent of concerns surrounding food safety, talk about bans on specific food products and rising instances of biryani and pizza joints providing inedible food, the need for the consumer to be extra cautious has become inevitable.

There’s a considerable leverage that we give to an organisation or a product as a one-off occasion. Even if there’s a revolt or a ranting, most of such cases end with momentary settlements and the issue sparingly comes out in the open. Karuna, a food connoisseur and a regular traveller points out, “The response when it comes to the majors is quite immediate. However, when you eat in a regional joint providing stale food, only wide campaigns, say, on the social media come to the rescue.”

Confessing to not using processed food for her son when he was younger, Karuna adds, “Generally, these things end whenever it doesn’t affect you immediately. You only hit the labs when you think of food contamination and food testing. Such practices and the awareness barely exist in the country. When a product is being banned after nearly two decades of consistent usage, the way you perceive food changes drastically.”

The ban on certain foods somehow hasn’t done enough to make people believe in the dangers lurking in adulterated dals, flours and oils all around even though one does think of minimising reliance on food prepared outside the home.

“For long, Kesari dal has been sold as masoor dal as its cheaper, but awareness of kits that can detect this is low among the public,” says Santhana Rajan, who heads a consumer help centre. The list of contaminants and inherent dangers is long, including the well-known unseasonal and early ripening of mangoes using calcium carbide.

Suspicions about food standards in the manufacturing sector, more than the raw materials, makes this issue take another turn. There’s an interesting case wherein farmers use a different set of produce for their family and a different one is sent for factories. The use of uncertified fertilizers and pesticides is one of the significant reasons.

Things can change for the better, when a consumer is sure of what they are about to buy. “The transparency about ingredients in a buyer-friendly language is missing, we need to surpass this. For packeted foods especially, it’s about labelling. There are other set of problems that arise when the food is bought loose. Even as we have tests to prove whether the food is consumable or not, most people rely on Government agencies,” says Kinnera Murthy, a strategy consultant.