86.
India
Horrors Of Food Adulteration
India has become a hub of food adulteration and unscrupulous trade practices. There is no other place in the world where conditions are as serious. There are no government regulations and whatever little controls exist, they are openly flouted. Corrupt police force, judiciary and government officials ensure that the culprits go scot free.
Situation is so serious that in just one state Maharashtra, more than 10,000 cases of food adulteration are pending in courts since last ten years.
Situation is so serious that in just one state Maharashtra, more than 10,000 cases of food adulteration are pending in courts since last ten years.
Krishna says, annad bhavanti bhutani [Bg. 3.14]. Anna. Anna means food grains, eatables. You must produce sufficient food grains. Why you are producing tire tube instead of food grains? And just entering your Delhi from Vrndavana, a big Goodyear factory, very big factory. You are producing tire tube, then iron, Goodyear and this and that. Where is food grain? And both sides, the field is vacant. Nobody is going to grow food grain. Then why you'll not starve? It is your fault. You are producing tire tube and iron instrument. You are neglecting agriculture. Then why you shall not suffer for want of food grain? And you are pleading, "Indians are starving." Well, why shall not starve if they do not follow Bhagavad-gita? They are thinking, "By increasing industry in America..." They have got industry, at the same time food grains also. But you are taking to industry without taking care of growing food grains.
~ Srila Prabhupada (Conversation with News Reporters, March 25, 1976, Delhi)
From vegetables, pulses and spices to chocolate, milk and energy drinks, nothing is contamination-proof. Consumers may be oblivious to the dangers, but tainted items are heightening the risk of conditions like cancer, paralysis and liver and heart damage.
Its a common practice to repackage expired goods and sell them in supermarkets along with the fresh goods. Thousands of establishments are raided every year by Food And Drug Administration (FDA) and spurious food items worth millions are seized but the practice continues unabated.
Melamine is added in chocolates which multiplies the risk of bladder cancer. Branded energy drinks may contain nearly 500 percent more caffeine than the legal limit which may cause cancer. Almost all the fruits are ripened with chemicals like calcium carbide, which can affect the nervous system and may contaminate the fruit with phosphorous and arsenic.
Spices are laced with toxic colours and heavy metals. While lead can cause anaemia, paralysis and the risk of abortion, colours can cause mental retardation in infants and increase the risk of cancers. Malachite is used to brighten green vegetables and can increase the risk of lung tumour.
J.S.Pai, executive director of the Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India says, “Food adulteration in the short term may cause diarrhoea, food poisoning and gastrointestinal problems but in the long term toxic materials accumulate in the body with serious health implications.” Most at risk are those who buy unpackaged, unlabelled goods, particularly from small to medium-sized neighborhood stores.
Its a common practice to repackage expired goods and sell them in supermarkets along with the fresh goods. Thousands of establishments are raided every year by Food And Drug Administration (FDA) and spurious food items worth millions are seized but the practice continues unabated.
Melamine is added in chocolates which multiplies the risk of bladder cancer. Branded energy drinks may contain nearly 500 percent more caffeine than the legal limit which may cause cancer. Almost all the fruits are ripened with chemicals like calcium carbide, which can affect the nervous system and may contaminate the fruit with phosphorous and arsenic.
Spices are laced with toxic colours and heavy metals. While lead can cause anaemia, paralysis and the risk of abortion, colours can cause mental retardation in infants and increase the risk of cancers. Malachite is used to brighten green vegetables and can increase the risk of lung tumour.
J.S.Pai, executive director of the Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India says, “Food adulteration in the short term may cause diarrhoea, food poisoning and gastrointestinal problems but in the long term toxic materials accumulate in the body with serious health implications.” Most at risk are those who buy unpackaged, unlabelled goods, particularly from small to medium-sized neighborhood stores.
If your energy is all engaged in manufacturing tires and wheels, then who will go to the... Actually I have seen in your country. Now the farmers’ son, they do not like to remain in the farm. They go in the city. I have seen it. The farmers’ son, they do not like to take up the profession of his father. So gradually farming will be reduced, and the city residents, they are satisfied if they can eat meat. And the farmer means keeping the, raising the cattle and killing them, send to the city, and they will think that “We are eating. What is the use of going to...” But these rascals have no brain that “If there is no food grain or grass, how these cattle will be...?” Actually it is happening. They are eating swiftly.
-Srila Prabhupada (Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper, November 6, 1976, Vrndavana)
Even liquor is not spared. Adulterated batches of bootleg liquor kill hundreds every year.
Some other examples of adulteration are:
Bitter Gourd and Capsicum: Banned malachite added to make them green and shiny
Tea Dust: Iron filings
Milk: Detergent, dirt, water, flour, urea, caustic soda
Ground Spices: Sawdust and colours
Sugar: Chalk powder
Wheat Flour: Sand, dirt and chalk powder
Honey: cheap Jaggery
Some other examples of adulteration are:
Bitter Gourd and Capsicum: Banned malachite added to make them green and shiny
Tea Dust: Iron filings
Milk: Detergent, dirt, water, flour, urea, caustic soda
Ground Spices: Sawdust and colours
Sugar: Chalk powder
Wheat Flour: Sand, dirt and chalk powder
Honey: cheap Jaggery
Most Milk In India Contaminated With Bleach, Fertilizer, Food Safety Regulator Finds
Times of India, Jan 10, 2012
India's food safety regulator found 68 percent of milk samples from cows and buffalo to be contaminated with additives such as fertilizer, bleach and detergent.
Cows may be sacred in India, but their by-product - milk -evidently is far from it.
During testing by the country's food safety regulator, 68 percent of milk samples from cows and buffalo were found to be contaminated with additives such as fertilizer, bleach and detergent.
The study, conducted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority, found that the milk was also "diluted with water or sweeteners, fat, non-edible solids, glucose and skimmed milk powder to increase volume. “Addition of water not only reduces the nutritional value of milk but contaminated water may also pose health risks,” the study says. However, the presence of the bleaching agent hydrogen peroxide and the fertilizer urea "are far more serious," the report notes, and can lead to gastroenteritis and other intestinal ailments.
India's food safety regulator found 68 percent of milk samples from cows and buffalo to be contaminated with additives such as fertilizer, bleach and detergent.
Cows may be sacred in India, but their by-product - milk -evidently is far from it.
During testing by the country's food safety regulator, 68 percent of milk samples from cows and buffalo were found to be contaminated with additives such as fertilizer, bleach and detergent.
The study, conducted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority, found that the milk was also "diluted with water or sweeteners, fat, non-edible solids, glucose and skimmed milk powder to increase volume. “Addition of water not only reduces the nutritional value of milk but contaminated water may also pose health risks,” the study says. However, the presence of the bleaching agent hydrogen peroxide and the fertilizer urea "are far more serious," the report notes, and can lead to gastroenteritis and other intestinal ailments.
We have seen in India. Nowadays there is no eatables. The government cannot supply food, failure, the problem which is not even amongst the beasts and birds. The birds and beasts, they have no such problem. They are freely living, jumping from one tree to another, because they know there is no problem of eating. And human society, there is problem of eating. What is the advancement? And there is enough place for producing food. I have seen Africa, Australia. Enough place.
~ Srila Prabhupada, (Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome)
The regulator blamed a "lack of hygiene and sanitation in the milk handling." Dirty water comes with the increased risk of hepatitis infection. Synthetic milk is also becoming common.
Commonly used adulterants are: caustic soda, urea, detergent, chalk, animal fat, neutralizers, hydrogen peroxide, sugar, starch, glucose, formalin and vegetable fat. Sorbitol is used as a thickening agent.
According to The National, India is one of the world's biggest producers of milk but struggles to meet domestic demand.
A national grid links more than 700 Indian cities and towns to the milk producers in the villagers. The processing and distribution of milk starts with dairy farmers across villages in India, who bring their daily supplies to a local collection center in their village.
The paper quoted one farmer from Binaural in the state of Uttar Pradesh as saying: "We don't even know what we are drinking anymore. The milk the dairy farmers give to the collection centers in their respective villages is fair and good. But it is the greed of manufacturers, and because demand is so high, that they don't care about who drinks the milk and can add all these additives." The states of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand fared the worst, The National wrote, with not a single sample passing the tests. In the national capital Delhi, 70% samples failed the test.
Commonly used adulterants are: caustic soda, urea, detergent, chalk, animal fat, neutralizers, hydrogen peroxide, sugar, starch, glucose, formalin and vegetable fat. Sorbitol is used as a thickening agent.
According to The National, India is one of the world's biggest producers of milk but struggles to meet domestic demand.
A national grid links more than 700 Indian cities and towns to the milk producers in the villagers. The processing and distribution of milk starts with dairy farmers across villages in India, who bring their daily supplies to a local collection center in their village.
The paper quoted one farmer from Binaural in the state of Uttar Pradesh as saying: "We don't even know what we are drinking anymore. The milk the dairy farmers give to the collection centers in their respective villages is fair and good. But it is the greed of manufacturers, and because demand is so high, that they don't care about who drinks the milk and can add all these additives." The states of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand fared the worst, The National wrote, with not a single sample passing the tests. In the national capital Delhi, 70% samples failed the test.
Yes. Just like the Germans, they extracted fat from stool. And that was used as butter. This is scientific. They'll have to eat stool even. They have eaten. In the last war, concentration camp, they have eaten their own stool. There was no food. So nature will punish them in that way. They'll eat everything. This godless civilization will lead people to such condition of life. Kadharya bhaksana kare, tara janma adho pate yaya. This life they will eat everything, all nonsense thing, and next life they become pig, cats, dogs. That's all. This will be.
~ Srila Prabhupada
“These are very harmful to the heart, liver and kidneys, and is specifically dangerous for pregnant women and the foetus,” says Dr Nutan Desai, a gastroenterologist at Fortis Hospital, Mumbai.
The samples were collected randomly and analysed from 33 states totaling a sample size of 1,791. Just 31.5% of the samples tested (565) conformed to the FSSAI standards while the rest1,226 (68.4%) failed the test.
These samples were sent to government laboratories like Department of Food and Drug Testing of Puducherry, Central Food Laboratory in Pune, Food Reasearch and Standardization Laboratory in Ghaziabad, State Public Health Laboratory in Guwahati and Central Food Laboratory, Kolkata, for testing.
Meanwhile, India’s second largest state milk federation body, the Karnataka Milk Federation, has been forced to withdraw its full cream milk from the market because it found that vendors were using water to dilute the milk and later adding starch to thicken it.
This shows the trade off between the risk of getting caught and the reward of profits is skewed heavily in favour of the latter. The government must focus on raising the risks to the adulterer. One way of doing this is by hiking the penalty, including making it analogous to attempt to murder in some cases.
These toxic chemicals are particularly harmful to the children. Phenomenal growth of health care sector in India can be attributed, at least in part, to this. It also explains why India has the highest number of malnourished children, even more than Sub-Sahara Africa. Problem is further exacerbated by the government policy of encouraging slaughterhouses and beef export. Now a dead cow fetches more money than a living one. India in 2012 became the world leader in beef export. Also due to lack of draught animals and cow dung manure, agriculture is dying off. Every year, close to 40,000 farmers commit suicide and many are abandoning field work to work as labourers or coolies in cities.
The samples were collected randomly and analysed from 33 states totaling a sample size of 1,791. Just 31.5% of the samples tested (565) conformed to the FSSAI standards while the rest1,226 (68.4%) failed the test.
These samples were sent to government laboratories like Department of Food and Drug Testing of Puducherry, Central Food Laboratory in Pune, Food Reasearch and Standardization Laboratory in Ghaziabad, State Public Health Laboratory in Guwahati and Central Food Laboratory, Kolkata, for testing.
Meanwhile, India’s second largest state milk federation body, the Karnataka Milk Federation, has been forced to withdraw its full cream milk from the market because it found that vendors were using water to dilute the milk and later adding starch to thicken it.
This shows the trade off between the risk of getting caught and the reward of profits is skewed heavily in favour of the latter. The government must focus on raising the risks to the adulterer. One way of doing this is by hiking the penalty, including making it analogous to attempt to murder in some cases.
These toxic chemicals are particularly harmful to the children. Phenomenal growth of health care sector in India can be attributed, at least in part, to this. It also explains why India has the highest number of malnourished children, even more than Sub-Sahara Africa. Problem is further exacerbated by the government policy of encouraging slaughterhouses and beef export. Now a dead cow fetches more money than a living one. India in 2012 became the world leader in beef export. Also due to lack of draught animals and cow dung manure, agriculture is dying off. Every year, close to 40,000 farmers commit suicide and many are abandoning field work to work as labourers or coolies in cities.