Menace of Adulteration

The nature, type, and quality and quantity of food play an important role in the maintenance of health and well being of all individuals. Food safety is an essential public health issue for all consumers.

However many consumers in India and other developing countries, are often exposed to willful adulteration o their food stock and supply. Adulteration of milk, spices, edible oils and even alcohol and beverages and the use of colors to mask product quality to cheat the consumer are quite common. This leads to health hazards and financial losses for consumer, families, communities and countries.

Most branded products in India have become a victim of this dangerous and prevailing disease of adulteration.

Nowadays, fast food is a fashion, even to middle-income group families. The ingredients of fast food may affect the health of the users. Nobody bothers to check whether it is adulterated food or not. A system should be formed to find out the offender, so that the health of the public is not affected.

Food adulteration is a crime, which cannot be left out without any penalty to those who are behind it. Food adulteration is slow poisoning and the innocent people are dying slowly. The health hazard on this count has not received the attention it merits, as the authorities are ill equipped to tackle the situation or remain reluctant to take action against the culprits who pay them on the sly.

The threat posed by contaminated foodstuff is formidable, indeed. Chemicals used for longer shelf life of food items, to enhance their taste and looks are harmful to health. Our health depends on the kind of food we consume. As such, contaminated food items imperil our life. Consumers should refrain from buying such items and turn to fresh food items made locally.

In wide-ranging terms, a family spends nearly fifty percent of its income on food. Yet, the diet of many of us is no balanced in nutrients such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and vitamins, minerals, which are essential for good health. Due to rising prices many are not in a position to afford good food. Even the food purchased at high cost is often by substances, which are injurious to health.

In the case of vegetables, it would be better if we can cultivate them in the available space, say in sacks placed on the terrace. Shops that sell contaminated food items should be boycotted. When consumers react jointly or in large numbers, the end result will be positive.

"Even Consumers should report cases of adulteration to the authorities and pursue them relentlessly to ensure conviction. If people display greater vigilance and consumer awareness, the menace can be arrested easily" said Rateh- ul-Khan, Food Inspector, Bangalore Mahanagar Palike.

The concerted effort of various Government departments such as Agriculture, Public Health and Civil Supplies with the cooperation of civic bodies and social organisations is necessary. The farmers who produce various food crops should be persuaded to use pesticides and chemical fertilizers judiciously rather than indiscriminately

All food items prepared in factories and other units should be subjected to scientific testing to ascertain quality. There should be stringent checking on food items brought from other States.

"Polluted air is the major cause of global warming which increases children's susceptibility to diseases such as influenza, causes irritation to the respiratory systems and vehicular pollution has become a serious health issue" says Akshay Heblikar, Eco Watch, Centre for Environment and sustainable Development

Yet colors may attract, but they could also repel, once the consumer knows that such colors could be toxic. Take the case of the summer fruit, water melon. Since consumer preference is for ripe, bright red melons, they often ask the fruit vendor to cut a small piece of the fruit and show them the inside color before buying. So sellers have apparently started injecting a red dye into the fruit to give it a bright red shade.

In fact during the hot summer months, it is not just the water melon. Since vegetables tend to dry up quickly, they are also given a coating of different colors to make them look fresh. Ladies finger, peas, capsicum, brinjal are only some of the many vegetables that are given a colored bath or simply given a shiny coat to fool consumers into believing that they are fresh.

Then there are other foods like pulses and spices that get a coating of paint throughout the year, irrespective of the season. Here, the color is meant to give them an attractive shine or to cover up holes left by insects or worms. Arhar dal, for example is often artificially coloured with various yellow dyes. Soak it in water and you will notice the water turning yellow in no time. Many other pulses reveal their true color only when they are put in water. The red variety of 'rajma' for example, often gives out blood red color when put in water. Dried red chillies have also been found to be colored with harmful synthetic dyes.

Food adulteration is punishable under Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. The act has been amended in 1976 and a person found guilty of adulterating an article of food which is non-injurious is liable to a punishment.

There are simple tests to detect adulteration of food Stuffs. "But it is necessary to have the food analysed scientifically in the food laboratories and only on the basis of reports can merchants be prosecuted" said Manjunathan, Public analyst, Food Laboratory, Bangalore Mahanagar Palike.

Consumers need to be made aware that they are essentially consuming poison instead of food and these actions by the illegal manufacturers are in fact equivalent to committing murder.