PATNA: The state health department's food safety wing continued raids on sweetmeat shops in Patna on the third consecutive day on Friday in the run-up to Diwali. It raided five shops on Friday.
Sources said adulteration cases were detected in 'khoya' sweets. "Synthetic 'khoya' procured from neighbouring UP is being used in Patna," an official of the raiding team said, adding they also found 'khesari' mixed with 'besan' being used to prepare loaddoos and non-edible colours being used to give attractive look to sweets.
Doctors caution against consumption of adulterated sweetmeat. "Synthetic 'khoya' can cause gastritis, diarrhoea and liver and intestine complications. Vomiting and peptic ulcer are common fallouts while excessive use can damage kidney," dietitian Archana Mishra told TOI.
Excessive consumption of 'khesari'-mixed 'besan' spawns lethargy and, in some cases, even paralysis, the AIIMS-Patna dietitian said.
Though the layer of silver varakh on sweets is good for health, the food safety official said many traders were instead opting for aluminium layering, which costs less. Aluminium, medical experts, can cause havoc with the digestion process, damage intestine and, in extreme cases, even lead to intestine cancer. "If chemicals are used to colour the sweets, they are simply unfit for human consumption," the dietitian said.
The food safety officials were also aghast to see the sweet workshops operating in extremely unhygienic conditions. "Consumption of food items prepared in unhygienic conditions can result in bacterial infections that may take long to get rid of," said another doctor.
The raiding team on Thursday found a chameleon and a lizard in two separate sweet containers of a Bailey Road shop's workshop. They destroyed a large consignment of rasgulla as it was full of insects and ants.
They didn't find lapses during their raids on Sweet Plaza and Namkeen (Jagdeopath), New Pal Sweets Home and Sri Laddoo (New Dak Bungalow Road) and Madhuban Sweets and Pal Sons Treat (Dak Bungalow Road) on Friday. "Ten samples of laddoo, kaju barfi and rasgulla were collected from these shops for lab tests," said the food safety official.
The raiding team comprised of Mukesh Kashyap, Narayan Ram and Sudama Chaudhary.
Doctors, meanwhile, advocate use of homemade sweets. "Sweets or halwa of moong daal or chana dal, for instance, are full of proteins. If one can afford, ghee or refined oil can be used or else non-stick tawa can be used to prepare it," Dr Mishra said.
Sharing the recipe, the dietitian said the pulse should be soaked in advance for 24 hours. "Grind it, mix it with water and saute it in ghee with cardamom. Once it turns golden brown, add milk and sugar. Dry fruits can then be added as per requirement," she said.
Bottle gourd halwa can be equally delicious and nutritious as it is rich in fibres, vitamins and minerals, Dr Mishra said and added it also took no more than 15 minutes to prepare it. "Even laddoo of 'besan' mixed with flour can be prepared easily. 'Besan' is also rich in protein," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment