Beware! Your staple food could be adulterated

Modern living standards have brought many comforts in our life but some of these are turning to be quite dangerous. The increase in various types of pollution and contamination is perhaps the most crucial aspect that has affected our life. Undeniably, a fall-out of this is that diseases have been increasing whereby some of these are thanks to our modern lifestyles including our food habits. Add to this some form or the other of chemical contamination has led to wanton increase in cancer, which till two decades ago was not very well known in our society.

Indeed, the emulation of western lifestyles by Indians has become dangerous as circumstances in our country are much different from nations in the West. Consequently, the high pollution levels which not only go unchecked but are allowed to increase has not only contaminated our air, water and soil but even our food: mainly vegetables, fruits, milk and milk products.

An example, take our food. Shockingly, various types of unhealthy chemicals are mixed and these go unchecked. Whereby, contaminated vegetables and fruits are sold openly in the market as there is no system in the country of checking the quality of products sold. Worse, according to an Agriculture Ministry report released in October last year, there has been a two-fold increase in the number of samples having pesticides which is above the maximum residue level (MRL) in vegetables, fruits, meat and spices.

Amongst the major culprits were green chilli, cauliflower, brinjal, cabbage, okra, capsicum etc according to the annual report on Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level (2014-15). The recent banning of Maggie probably made history in the country, but this was a rare instance of a popular brand being banned.

However, this momentum of checks and inspection has not been kept as food inspectors are few in number and cannot keep pace with the requirements of the day. Besides, reports reveal that street foods cause a wide spectrum of illness which is caused by pathogenic, bacterial, viral, protozoan and chemical contamination of food.

These include bacterial pathogens which are bacillus cereus (causing vomiting and diarrhea), perfringens (abdominal cramps and diarrhea), staphylococcus aureus (vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal cramps and fever) and salmonella species (typhoid, food poisoning and inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract).

Take biryani, a favourite food all over the country. Notably, the rice’s yellow colour should come from kesar, which costs Rs 200 a gram. Instead, the flavoured rice gets its yellow colour from metanil yellow, an industrial dye and a known carcinogen, whose cost is a mere Rs 4-5 a packet!
Many surveys reveal that barring leading shops most use metanil yellow in their biryani.

Apart from biryani, there are low-priced ice-creams and various other cooked items sold on the street whose consumption is injurious to human health. But these are never checked and the sale goes on unabated. Children from the economically weaker sections and low income groups who buy these items are the worst sufferers.

Further, it is not only low quality food which is the cause of contamination. Energy drinks being sold in India and advertised in the media have dangerous levels of caffeine, according to a Delhi NGO, Centre for Science & Environment (CSE). This apart, more appalling is that the most important contaminant in human life is water. Due to large-scale pollution, water is contaminated mainly in the rural and semi-urban areas where the people have to depend on ponds, tubewells and dugwells for more drinking water.

The contamination of groundwater has added to the problem wherein excessive use has reduced the water levels and increased contamination. As a result, water borne diseases have increased at a very fast pace and this is primarily due to the contaminated water people are forced to drink. The World Health Organization (WHO) had issued a warning way back in mid-2012 against skin lightening soaps, creams and cosmetics such as eye make-up, cleansing products and mascara.

Thus, it is time for the Government to take action against adulterators, which include well-known brands, as the toxicity has grave implications for human health and increases the risk of diseases, including cancer.

By Oishee Mukherjee