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That poison on our plate

Food sustains life; pure, wholesome food sustains health; healthy citizens sustain a country. A country that cannot afford to feed safe and wholesome food to its children and adults is doomed to be crippled with a population stunted in physical and mental development, struggling to fight debilitating and life-threatening diseases arising from nutrient deficiencies and toxic intakes.

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Ranjit Powar

Food sustains life; pure, wholesome food sustains health; healthy citizens sustain a country. A country that cannot afford to feed safe and wholesome food to its children and adults is doomed to be crippled with a population stunted in physical and mental development, struggling to fight debilitating and life-threatening diseases arising from nutrient deficiencies and toxic intakes. It is a matter of concern that India is consuming the most unsafe food, with Punjab being the second worst among states after Uttar Pradesh.

In a recent report, the Public Health Foundation of India attributed 80 per cent of all premature deaths to the consumption of contaminated food and water. Instead of working towards nation-building, a population feeding on toxins and sub-standard food struggles to keep going by battling  persistent disease, low energy levels and low levels of cognitive abilities. Research shows that exposure to neuro-toxic substances can cause permanent brain damage, nervous system disorders, behaviour and learning difficulties, and hyperactivity in children. It can also slow down a child’s growth, both in-utero and after birth.

Food adulteration in India starts right from the fields with an indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. These leave heavy residue in the grains, vegetables and fruits that come to our table. Many of these foodstuffs are further subjected to chemical treatment for artificial ripening and preservation.

Among the most frequently adulterated products are milk and milk products, tea, bottled water, edible oils, condiments and flour. Recent sampling by the food safety officials of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, has revealed that  60 per cent of milk samples had been adulterated with chemicals, urea, refined oils and glucose. One can only guess the quantum of damage suffered by children, pregnant and lactating mothers, who are the highest consumers of milk.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare implements the legislation to ensure safe food called the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. According to the FSSAI guidelines, food adulteration amounts to intentionally or unintentionally debasing the quality of food that is offered for sale by adding or substituting these with inferior substances or removing some valuable ingredient. Adulteration is a legal term meaning that a food product has failed to meet federal or state standards of the required quality. 

Food samples are drawn and chemically analysed in the FSSAI accredited or referral laboratories to ascertain that these meet the food safety guidelines. Unfortunately,  ground implementation of the above law has failed miserably to safeguard the basic right to health and life for the common citizens.

The main administrative and policy-related reasons for the failure to regulate food adulteration are:

  • Not enough resources and funds: Out of a sanctioned strength of 60, the Food Safety Department in Punjab has only 31 functioning food safety officers. The department has undertaken to fill the vacant posts as one of the measures under its current endeavours to check adulteration.
  • Lack of adequate equipment: Most laboratories can only perform chemical analysis and need to send the samples to private laboratories for further testing for microbes, pesticides or metals.
  • Inadequate food testing labs: Punjab has only one laboratory in Kharar.
  • Long process of documentation: The cumbersome process of documentation may take up to a year for prosecution. This allows a lot of time for manipulation and escape routes. There is only one designated tribunal to hear cases related to food safety. Thus a huge backlog of undecided cases remains.
  • Compromising on ethics: There’s a need to look into the depraved moral and ethical fibre of our society where many are ready to sell their soul to make an extra buck. 

Next comes the role of the regulatory authorities, who have, before the current crackdown in Punjab, failed to deliver in favour of other considerations, including political interference and protection to defaulters.

Just as we expect athletes to earn gold medals in international events, soldiers to defend our borders valiantly, children to excel in studies and common citizens to perform to perfection, let us watch what we feed them: food or poison?

Suspect adulteration?
Test your milk for free

You can seek help if you suspect the milk to be adulterated. A mobile milk-testing laboratory, equipped with testing various types of milk adulteration for free, was launched by the Dairy Development Board across Punjab. Another van equipped to undertake tests to detect adulteration will be launched shortly.

Scary statistics

From April 2017 to June 2018, a total of 13,933 food samples were received and analysed. Out of these, 3,998 did not conform to standards while 1,836 were substandard. As many as 1,304 were misbranded and 53 misleading. 173 were unsafe for humans and 144 expired products were being sold in market. As many as 154 samples contained tobacco and 17 were found adulterated. 

How food is adulterated

  • Addition of a substance which depreciates its quality or affects it injuriously. 
  • Cheaper or inferior substances substitute it wholly or in part. 
  • Any valuable constituent has been abstracted wholly or in part.
  • It is coloured or otherwise treated to improve its appearance in a way detrimental to health.

— The writer is former Deputy Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Punjab

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