In most of the houses, people start their day with a glass of milk and it is considered very beneficial for health but some people are playing with the health of people for a little profit, that is why today dangerous chemicals, waxes and many other things are being mixed in food items, but let us know from the experts how much harm this is causing to people’s health.
Rakhi festival is near, sweets made of milk, ghee and mawa are being sold in the market in full swing. Milk, ghee and mawa are also considered good for health. That is why mothers insist on feeding milk to their children since childhood, but how would you feel if someone tells you that eating these things is ruining your health instead of improving it.
Yes, we are not talking about pure but adulterated and fake milk, ghee and mawa because you know that most of the things that are coming in our food plate today are adulterated with some thing or the other and this is the reason that people are getting various diseases by eating these adulterated things.
Food items are adulterated to earn huge profits. Earlier, shopkeepers used to adulterate rice and pulses with pebbles to make up for the weight problem. Now, food items are being adulterated to earn more profits. It was easy to identify and remove these pebbles from rice and pulses but today, 80 percent of adulteration cannot be identified with naked eyes.
Identify adulterated items
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is responsible for detecting adulteration in food items. This organization tests any item and assures whether your food item is pure or adulterated.
After this, it gives the certification of purity to that food item, hence it is said that only food items certified by this organization should be eaten.
If you check on the website of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, you will find more than half of the items used in your food are adulterated. Actually, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India controls the adulteration of food items in the country and its job is to stop adulteration in the country.
If you go to its website and click on inspection and go to Check Adulteration at Home, you will find more than 77 such links and lists from which you can check adulteration in your food items sitting at home.
Check adulteration at home
These include almost everything from turmeric, red chilli powder to milk, ghee, flour, pulses used in your food. For example, milk is adulterated with water and starch.
To check the adulteration of starch in milk, heat some milk and after it cools down, add a few drops of iodine solution to it. If the colour of the milk changes to blue, then the milk is adulterated with starch and if the milk does not change its colour, then it is pure.
This is how to check adulterated milk
Similarly, if you want to check the adulteration of milk with water, then stand a plate on it and drop a few drops of milk on it, if the milk flows rapidly without stopping and leaving any marks then the milk has been adulterated with water, if the milk flows intermittently leaving marks then it is not adulterated with water.
Similarly, if you want to check the adulteration of detergent in milk, then put the milk in a glass and stir it with a spoon, if foam starts forming in the milk then it has been adulterated with detergent otherwise your milk is pure.
Use of harmful chemicals in fruits and vegetables
Now you think that if there is so much adulteration in milk, then how much adulteration will be there in other things and how can it be good for our health. Similarly, you buy shiny green vegetables from the market thinking that it will be beneficial for your health, but green colour is used to colour green vegetables so that the vegetables look more green and fresh.
This chemical is known as Rhodamine-B, it is also used to colour clothes and leather, this chemical is so harmful that there is a risk of cancer.
Recently, due to the presence of this chemical in cotton candy eaten by children, the sale of cotton candy was banned in many states. Even this Rhodamine-B chemical is used to colour chili-potato which is very harmful for health.
Similarly, chemicals are used to ripen fruits before time and wax is applied on the fruits to make them shine. If this wax is not cleaned properly, it gets deposited in the intestines and causes a lot of harm to the body.
Dr Bela Sharma, Additional Director, Internal Medicine, Fortis Hospital, says that leave aside food items, the water we drink remains contaminated even after filtration, which causes many diseases. Drinking contaminated water increases the risk of infection, which can cause hepatitis A infection. Apart from this, diarrhea, stomach infection and typhoid also spread due to drinking contaminated water.
Adulteration of cheap food colour is dangerous
Dr. Bela says that food colouring is used the most to make food attractive. Shopkeepers use it to make sweets look colourful, however, food colouring that is certified by FSSAI should be used in food. But since those certified colours are expensive, shopkeepers use cheap food colours that are not edible.
If these are eaten, the pigments present in them keep accumulating in the stomach and cause great harm to the liver of children in particular. Similarly, it may also contain metals that can affect the thyroid and kidneys of children.
The use of preservatives is the root cause of many problems
Similarly, many artificial flavors are used to add fragrance and flavor to food, which is also a chemical. These chemicals also have a bad effect on the liver and kidneys.
Similarly, preservatives are used to keep packed foods safe. These preservatives also harm your health and are generally used in every packed food to increase their shelf life. This is the reason why today people are suffering from thyroid, liver and kidney problems at a young age.
Where to complain about adulteration
If you find adulteration in any food item, you can also lodge a complaint, after which appropriate action can be taken against the concerned company or person. For this, you will have to lodge a complaint with the local health authority, District Commissioner of Food Safety Authority or Consumer Forum.
Apart from this, you can contact the FSSAI Food License through an online platform called ‘Food Safety Voice’. This platform empowers people to lodge complaints about adulterated, substandard or unsafe food and poor labeling or misleading advertisements related to food products.
Now just think how these profiteers are playing with your health for a little profit. The milk which you think will strengthen your child’s bones is adulterated with water and detergent.
Now think how much harm this detergent can cause to your health. Experts say that consuming detergent increases the risk of getting cancer and this is the reason why there is a huge increase in the number of cancer patients today.