Use of Opium to season food preparations-Latest food scare in China

It is not easy to forget the greatest food fraud in China which occurred a few years ago killing and maiming hundreds of unsuspecting children after consuming baby foods made from milk adulterated with the toxic Melamine, a polymer material used in varnishes. Unfortunately the fraudsters are still alive and kicking in that country with the government, though considered a totalitarian regime, not able to do much to weed them out from the society. Latest scandal to emerge involves use of the intoxicant Opium to season some of the food preparations served in reputed restaurants. Opium in limited quantities are used to treat certain disease conditions but for a normal person to consume it regularly is unthinkable as this opioid is a habit forming one.making customers addicts.  Here is a take on this unfortunate episode reported recently from China.

"Thirty-five restaurants in China selling popular dishes and snacks were found to have used opium poppies as a seasoning, China's top food safety regulator said. Owners of 25 of the restaurants have been transferred to public security departments for criminal investigation, the China Food and Drug Administration said last Thursday. The other 10 are under investigation by the administration. The restaurants include some that are locally well known, including Huda Restaurant in Beijing, which specialises in spicy crayfish. Adding opium poppies to dishes violates China's Food Safety Law, which forbids the selling of food made with non-food materials or chemicals, except for food additives. Violations could result in fines or criminal penalties. The regulator called on local food and drug authorities to punish those involved and to cooperate with public security departments to find the sources of the poppies. It also required food and drug authorities to intensify supervision and inspection of restaurants that sell food like fried chicken and noodles. Professor of food safety and nutrition Luo Yunbo, at the China Agricultural University, said opium causes addiction and serious harm to health if overused, and it is banned from use in food in China. "There are so many restaurants in China and it is very difficult to effectively inspect every one of them to ensure they follow the law," he said."

What is galling is that irrational statements are being made regarding the impossibility of preventing such malpractices in the catering sector. Is it not the responsibility of the State to give protection to its citizens whatever may the cost or difficulties? What are the food safety personnel doing there if they cannot discharge their surveillance responsibility and why the government is soft on these criminals, instead of putting them in jails for long terms besides confiscating their properties? Though only 35 restaurants in Beijing so far have been found to be delinquents, this practice might be widespread through out the country because of the long term gains these eateries will have by making their regular customers more and more addicted to their food preparations! It is regrettable for any one to obfuscate by saying such practices can be weeded out only through education which presupposes that those indulging in such practices are innocent and illiterates! No doubt food safety surveillance is a heavy responsibility on all governments but showing helplessness is nothing but abdication of their duty of protecting the citizens through convincing and trust inspiring action.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OBESITY? INDIVIDUALS, SOCIETY OR THE GOVERNMENT?

The word "Obesity" is one of the most widely used jargon in modern times because of the concern in many parts of the world regarding the health and economic consequences of this human affliction. Though tons of papers have been published during the last 2 decades, nothing concrete has been achieved to control the obesity epidemic as no consensus exists regarding the root cause that is responsible for this modern tragedy. It is true that obesity is caused by undisciplined eating by a section of the population while hereditary factors also play some part. Governments in various countries are breaking their heads as to how this epidemic can be controlled and a few well meaning intervention programs were launched in different countries with some what indifferent results. It is now being realized as reflected by the report below that consumers them selves are to be blamed for causing this havoc though government agencies can contribute in some measures to help him out with suitable policies.

"A new survey by two food economists confirmed that even obese people don't blame restaurants, grocery stores, farmers, or government policies for obesity, which means that creating and enforcing public policies to reduce obesity or encourage/mandate healthier food is probably not going to be effective. University of Illinois researcher Brenna Ellison and Jayson Lusk at Oklahoma State University note that many of the food policies designed to improve food choices, such as requiring calorie information on restaurant menus and taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, don't produce the intended results. Their question: Why aren't these policies working? Why aren't consumers responding to increased soda prices or calorie information on menus"Obesity is in the news every day so it would be hard to say that people are unaware of the policy initiatives in place to reduce U.S. obesity rates," Ellison said. "Based on our study results, the more likely conclusion is that consumers' beliefs about who is to blame for obesity don't necessarily align with the beliefs of policy makers and public health advocates. In the United States, we're known for being an individualistic-based society, so it's  so it's not exceptionally surprising that we would put this responsibility for obesity on ourselves." An online survey was administered by Clear Voice Research whose registry of panelists is representative of the U.S. population in terms of socioeconomic characteristics, gender, and region. Of the more than 800 people in the United States who took the survey, 774 were usable. The main question of interest asked survey participants was, "Who is primarily to blame for the rise in obesity?" Respondents were asked to classify seven different entities (individuals, parents, farmers, food manufacturers, grocery stores, restaurants, and government policies) as either primarily to blame, somewhat to blame, or not to blame for obesity.  Results of the study showed that 94 percent of people believed individuals are primarily or somewhat to blame for the rise in obesity, with parents coming in second at 91 percent primarily or somewhat to blame. Survey respondents felt farmers and grocery stores were relatively blameless for the rise in obesity."

While obesity is a choice by individuals, one has to define what makes a responsible individual? After all a new born child has neither the will nor the means to choose his foods and depends heavily on the parents to give him good food. Is it possible then that parents who do not fulfill their responsibility to provide balanced and nutritious foods to their children during early years of development, has to bear the brunt of the blame for creating a population with wide spread obesity? There are indications proved by science that children who are lean and normal with respect to BMI during their preschool days invariably escape obesity later when they grow into adults. No wonder that the above study brings out emphatically the role of parents in the obesity saga while normal adults becoming obese due to their sedentary life style and gluttony have to bear the responsibility themselves. The blame game however does provide a solution to this vexed problem though ultimately salvation lies in preparing a future citizenry well educated vis-a-vis the nuances of obesity. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com  

TRAINING OF TRAINERS-SPREADING FOOD AND NUTRITION AWARENESS

Food, nutrition, health, eating habits and sanitation are subjects which are usually confined among experts and scientists. Inculcating healthy eating is a responsibility shared equally by the parents of growing kids at home and by the teachers in schools where kids go at least 200 days an year. The big question is how far the parents and teachers know about these subjects and poorly informed and ignorant parents and teachers cannot be expected to teach the children correctly and adequately. Going further down, only adequately exposed children can become good parents of tomorrow who in turn can transfer their knowledge and experience to their kids. Thus school teachers are the vital cogs in the education of kids vis-a-vis food related issues. The FDA of USA and the teachers' association in that country are doing wonderful work in training teachers for such a job so that they can train the children in making them practice eating good foods with high nutrition content and adhering to scientific hygiene and sanitation habits. Read further below to understand fully the implications of the program being undertaken in America to train the school teachers.  

"One way to teach kids about food safety and nutrition is to teach their teachers. That's the idea behind a training program the Food and Drug Administration has been running for the past 15 years. "Science and Our Food Supply" is a week-long program held in the summer that brings together teachers from all over the country who teach biology, chemistry, food science and health. Its aim is to improve food safety and nutrition education in schools using a curriculum co-developed by FDA and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), which looks at the science behind issues such as foodborne illnesses.The participants learn about the journey of food from farm to table, basic microbiology techniques, FDA's role in regulating products, new research on food safety, nutrition and nutrition labeling, and food allergies. This year, 32 teachers from 22 states participated and then returned to their own schools to teach the curriculum to students and hold day-long sessions to train their fellow teachers."

It is rather a mystery as to why Indian education planners are ignoring this respect, considering that children form their habits fairly early in their life and undesirable and inappropriate habits imbibed early in life will be difficult to be changed later. A body like NCERT in India can do wonders by introducing basic concepts of food and its allied aspects in text books designed for school going kids at the age of 5-8 years and undertake a national endeavor of training teachers through short term abridged programs at the national, regional and state levels. It can always depend on scientific bodies like CFTRI, DFRL, NIN, NIFTEM. Universities etc to provide experts in transferring the technical information to teachers through well designed programs, especially during vacation times when teachers do not have much teaching load. This is the only way to transform India into "Swacha Bharath" , as being propagated by the present Prime Minister of the country.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com