Bhubaneswar: A series of crackdowns by the food safety department and police on adulterated food units in twin cities during the last six months has exposed a murky world of food business which is detrimental to public health.
The food safety department has found highly toxic material used by unscrupulous traders that may cause gastro-intestinal irritation and other life threatening diseases like cancer.
As per official documents of the department accessed by Orissa POST, several banned items have penetrated into the food market in blatant violation of the food safety norms set by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Senior officials at the food safety department said numerous harmful adulterated food items, contaminated substances, substandard food and beverages were found during the raids on godowns, markets and outlets in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
“The most common form of adulteration we found was in preparing sauces. Several erring outlets were found using colours beyond permissible limits and even using synthetic dye in sauces. These dyes are not allowed in food items and used in industries for dying clothes,” a senior food safety officer said requesting anonymity.
The officer also explained that maida, artificial colour, monosaccharide powder and other harmful items were added while preparing paneer. Monosaccharide is the cheapest form of sugar which does not have enough nutritional value. Moreover, the levels of good fat that paneer should ideally have were too low in the seized items.
It was also found that detergents were used in non-branded local milk, the officials added. A study conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi on milk adulteration claimed that detergents can act like slow poison for people living with hypertension and diabetes.
Health experts claimed that several of these adulterated items added to the food items are highly carcinogenic in nature.
“Industrial synthetic dyes are known to be carcinogenic in nature. Such items and other harmful chemicals present in small amounts if consumed for shorter period can show acute symptoms like diarrhoea, gastritis and ulcer but longer exposure can lead to cancer,” said Dr Ayashkant Singh, a gastroenterologist from the city. He claimed that in Odisha, doctors are seeing higher number of cases of gall bladder cancer among patients.
He also said that doctors from SCB Medical College and SUM Hospital are also studying the reason behind higher number of gall bladder cancers in Odisha and their likely link to the food items like including adulterated mustard oil and others.
BOX: FOOD OR POISON
| FOOD ITEMS | ADULTERATIONS FOUND | IMPACT ON HEALTH |
| Sauce | Synthetic dye | Gastritis, gastrointestinal infection & cancer |
| Paneer | Synthetic colour,
artificial flavor & non-nutritious sugar |
Irritation, allergy & ulcer |
| Milk | Excess water,
Detergents |
Can damage body tissues, cancer |
| Ghee | Low quality oil,
Chemicals |
Lesser nutritional levels |
PNN