Are you in a belief that whatever foodstuff you consume, though bought from classy stores are not adulterated! Are we eating safe food? Do you really think it’s all pure and you will get all nutrients written just behind your contained food? If you are in this belief? Well this post may make your eyes popped up and would be happy in realizing it.
Firstly we should know
What adulteration is?
Adulteration is being food being mixed with extraneous material; as we can see Life is becoming too fast and there is too much dependence on fast food. Food adulteration is the addition or removal of any substances to or from food, so that the natural composition and quality is affected. Adulterated food is impure, unsafe and not wholesome. Food can be adulterated intentionally and accidentally. Unintentional adulteration is a result of ignorance or the lack of facilities to maintain food quality. This may be caused by spillover effect from pesticides and fertilizers. Inappropriate food handling and packaging methods can also result in adulteration.
In the below given image you can analyse that how a food is adulterated and it’s hazardous effects on our health.
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How healthy food is adulterated and its quality is deteriorated?
As we are always in hurry to have our meals, we easily ignore the quality to save our time, and regret later. Continuous consumption of adulterated food severely damages health of a being and decrease in the level of nutrition . The food adulteration is done for getting financial gains. The most common form of intentional adulteration is color adulteration, for example, you can observe the thickness of milk, extraneous matter to ground spices or removal or substitution of milk solids from natural product, toxic varieties of pulses, mushroom, green and other vegetables are added in the contained food. Around 5,000 species of marine fish are known to be poisonous and many of these are among edible Varieties
These adulterated foods can affect you health if you neglect the small things of observing the, labels, marks or stamps which are made compulsory by governments to check the purity of the product. Consumption of such food stuffs can make u suffer from various illnesses from petty viral fevers to cancer! Stomach disorders, liver problems, various skin diseases, chronic aches, etc.
What are precautions taken to reduce practice of adulteration?
Governments all over the world have made certain policies and enforced such laws, that to pave a way to cease adulteration practices. It not only affect the health of the people but also creates a vicious cycle of adulterating food and earning in corrupt ways. For this in United states government have arranged FDA and FSIS (Food Drug and Administration, Food Safety and Inspection Service respectively). FDA and FSIS are made to inspect the quality of products like them there are various such administration created by government to look in to matter of types of food products . If these firms found adulterated products actions are enforced against the distributor or manufacturer laws are preceded with ‘warning letter’.
In India, according to The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 strict actions are taken against the violation of act, If the food is proved to be adulterated by the manufacturers, retailers, distributors, vendors, sellers, etc are severely punished only when If complaint is registered against faulty product.
As we have been well acquainted with our rights its time when we have to stand against the faulty products not just throw them in dustbins but take some action! But still if don’t notice the adulteration and significant purity check marks on the label of your products then you may put yourself in danger. As we can see that government is taking many steps to cease and cut the adulteration process so that good nutritious food can reach to you for which you paid for. So it becomes our duty to be alert and aware of the products we use.
We can do simple things to make out the products are safe for out health or no, so that we can avoid and prevent ourselves various health problems. We can begin by taking interest in the place from where we buy our food ingredients, for example, is it from a reputed shop or retailer, we need to check out. We also need to check if these outlets are regularly checked by food inspectors and if the premises are kept clean with no infestations. We need to check if the packaging is intact, as also the expiry date and the source of the product. It is also necessary to talk regularly to the local community to check if people are falling sick after eating in a particular restaurant or food ingredients bought from a particular retailer. We should also create awareness in the local community on the ill effects of food adulteration so that when it happens the public knows when to seek help.
We need to remember that contamination could happen in very small amounts over a period of time and it might be impossible to detect or too late to intervene. So it is prudent that every one of us takes special interest in this subject and educates our families, friends and colleagues about this menace.
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