Poison on our Plates

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 great concern that India is a country consuming the most unsafe food, and Punjab is the second worst among states, with Uttar Pradesh at the bottom. In a recent report, the Public Health Foundation of India attributed 80% of all premature deaths to the consumption of contaminated food and water. Instead of working enthusiastically towards nation-building and personal advancement, a population feeding on toxins and sub-standard food struggles to keep going by battling with persistent diseases, 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 through indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, leaving heavy residues in the grains, vegetables and fruits that come to our table. Many of these foodstuffs are further subjected to chemical treatments for artificial ripening and preservation. Amongst the most frequently adulterated products are milk and milk products, tea, bottled water, edible oils, condiments and flour . Recent food samplings by the food safety officials of the Department of Health and family Welfare, Punjab, have shown 60% of milk samples to be adulterated with chemicals, urea, refined oils and glucose. One can only guess the quantum of damages suffered by children and pregnant and lactating mothers, who are the highest consumers of milk, among others.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India implements legislation to ensure safe food, called the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act,1954. According to FSSAI guidelines, food adulteration amounts to intentionally or unintentionally debasing the quality of food that is offered for sale by adding or substituting it 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. Thus, adulterated food is the result of:

addition of a substance that 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.

 Food samples are drawn and chemically analyzed in FSSAI-accredited or referral laboratories to ascertain that they meet the food safety guidelines. Unfortunately, on ground implementation of the above law has failed miserably to safeguard the basic right to health and life for the common citizen. The following are the main administrative and policy-related reasons for the failure to regulate food adulteration:

Lack of adequate human resources and funds;

The Food Safety Department in Punjab has only 31 functioning food safety officers presently out of a sanctioned strength of 60, though the department has undertaken to fill the vacant posts as one of the measures under its current endeavours to check food adulteration.

Lack of adequate food testing laboratories and wherewithal; Punjab has only one laboratory in Kharar.

Lack of adequate equipment; most labs can only perform chemical analysis and need to send the samples to private labs for further testing for microbes, pesticides or metals.

A long, cumbersome process of documentation which may take up to a year for prosecution, allowing a lot of time for manipulation and escape routes.

There is only one designated tribunal to hear cases related to food safety, building up a huge backlog of undecided cases.

It is also necessary to look into the depraved moral and ethical fibre of our society, where many people are ready to sell their souls for making an extra buck. Such vendors do not hesitate to indulge in adulteration, knowing that it will cause irretrievable physical and mental damage to people, possibly resulting in serious diseases like cancer, reduced levels of overall functioning and possible death. Paradoxically, these are people who may not have  indulged in physical assault and murder but have no qualms in feeding slow poison to children in wombs, ailing seniors and the youth of our country. 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 for defaulters. The policymakers have, through omission or commission, neglected to make adequate provisions for upgrading facilities to check this menace in view of the increase in vendors of edible goods.

 When one looks to athletes to earn gold medals in international events, the soldiers to defend our borders valiantly, the children to excel in studies, and the common citizen to perform to perfection, let us watch what we feed them; food or poison?