POISONOUS FOOD

Most of the vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, eggs, milk, packed food and ingredients for food brought into the state of Kerala  are highly contaminated and adulterated. The media have highlighted it time and again but the so called people's government do not take adequate measures to prevent this corrupt human activities for one reason or the other.

A report prepared by the Food Quality Monitoring Laboratory under the Council for Food Research and Development (CFRD) indicates presence of pesticides that has rendered several lots of vegetables unfit for human consumption. Out of 44 lots of vegetables collected from different markets across Kerala, 10 samples contained organo chloro residue above permissible limits, which meant they were unfit for human consumption.(This refers to a report appeared in The Hindu, Kochi dtd 12th Jan 2014)

Formalin is generally used for the preservation of fish. Formalin, a toxic and carcinogenic chemical commonly used to preserve dead bodies in mortuaries, is used to prevent fish from deteriorating during transportation. Formalin treatment prevent the fish from rotting for 15 to 20 days. Consumption of as little as 30 ml of a solution containing 37% formaldehyde can kill an adult. Studies show a correlation between this chemical and leukaemia. (Indebted to news report in India Today by Vikas Kahol)

Misleading health claims on labels of packed food and by advertisements through print media as well as visual media has become a common practice in our whole country particularly in the state of Kerala, a haven for consumer goods manufacturers and traders. According to a report published in New Indian Express dtd 15.02.2017, public laboratory testing authorities had registered a total of 586 cases in connection with adulteration and slapped ₹ 1.38 cr as fine between 2014 and 2016. The report shows that out of 4931 samples analysed from Kerala 923 were adulterated or misbranded.

Low quality coconut oil is flooded in Kerala market. The Coconut Oil Merchants Association (COMA) have tested 31 brands collected from different parts of the state and found that 21 of them were adulterated. Experts say that iodine content in coconut oil was around 50 per cent against the permitted level of 7.5 to 10 per cent. In the adulterated packs coconut oil content is only 25 to 30 per cent and the remaining is other cheap oil. Of late, unconfirmed reports show that crude oil is mixed in coconut oil. The only reason for the adulteration is the soaring price of coconut oil. The price that was around ₹ 60 per kg in October 2017 has reached ₹ 230 per kg in April 2018. There is no valid reason to substantiate this steep price hike.

The government should take all corrective measures to ensure that the people are getting unadulterated food articles. We have adequate number of departments, qualified and experienced staff to deal with the situation. Most of them are honest to the core too. The government should handle them efficiently for the best results.

KV George