How Safe is our Food?

When food procured from the local grocer and prepared for serving to the Prime Minister during his recent visit to Kanpur was found to contain impurities, it made headlines for a day. That a billion Indians eat the same food considered unsuitable for the prime minister’s consumption, every day, does not seem to arouse us.

A wide variety of chemicals, pesticides, impurities, hormones, toxins, additives and insecticides find their way into our bodies through the food we eat. It begins with chemical fertilizers and pesticides used in farming. Of late, our farmers have discovered that injecting a hormone called oxytocin, which is normally produced by the human body for making the uterus contract or express milk from breasts, can enhance farm produce and make the fruits and veggies look fatter, bigger and garden-fresh. Another chemical agent, calcium carbide, is commonly used to ripen fruits.

There is growing concern what they might be doing to us when we consume them. The dangers this time are not the cliched “cancer scares” but possible links to nervous breakdowns, sterility and neurotic disorders. A disorder of children being increasingly linked to toxic food additives is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. Children manifesting this disorder are unable to sit still and concentrate, are restless and show impaired learning. Several chemicals, coloring agents and preservatives such as glutamate and benzene are suspect. Glutamate is commonly present in monosodiumglutamate or MSG, preservatives and canned foods, while benzene is used as a preservative in cola drinks and fruit juices.

Pesticides, insecticides and rat poisons used at various stages of food production and storage can be harmful too. If the Bhopal gas tragedy is any reckoner, it was leakage of these poisons from the Union Carbide insecticide plant that killed thousands of humans and maimed many others. Their harmful effects may not be readily evident, but regular small doses can be bad for our nerves and brains. Heavy metals, such as lead or aluminium, often present in garnishings of sweets, can lead to dementia or foggy brains.

Several developed countries such as Scandinavia, Australia and Germany have therefore banned food additives, artificial flavours and colouring agents from use. Germany boasts that its lager and cheese are totally free of impurities and taste-enhancers.

Organic farming, in which grains, veggies and fruits are grown naturally without any fertilizers, chemicals or hormones, has already become the fashion statement of the rich and the evolved. Organic food looks lean, wrinkled, and lustreless but is healthier than our artificially fattened brinjals or painted deep green bulgy cabbages.They also cost much more as the yield is smaller as they are grown without fertilizers and other chemicals.

 In most parts of India, plump and clourful is still in and hence safe food on our tables seems quite a way off. It is time we looked beyond size and looks and paid attention to our health.

As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 8 august, 2010.