Think carrots are healthy?
They were, yes; but not after they started getting polluted by fecal bacteria.
Listen up, India – the veggies you, and I, are eating, are most probably growing in contaminated water. In the country’s capital, for instance, veggies are being cultivated in Yamuna’s water. What was a river once, is now a mega drain – with 1,360 million litres of sewage water falling into it everyday. And guess what? Its pollutants are coming on your plate.
Our veggies are laced with calcium carbite and endosulphan. Afterall, we grow about 50-60% of all endosulphan in the world. And look at what the pesticide did to Padre – a whole village in Kerala. Aerial spraying of endosulphan on cashew crops led to congenital malformations and malignancies.
It is ironic that even though we are the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, producing 94 million tonnes, no less, our vegetables and fruits are unfit to be eaten.
Poison in my Veggies, Detergent in my Milk
Doodh, doodh, doodh.. all that talk of milk being healthy could be strongly contested now. There’s a 46% chance your milk has detergent, as the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India, or FFSAI tells us. That’s right, make your milk evangelist mum read this.
But that’s the veggies’ gripe, right? Why should leg piece lovers worry?
Bad news – our chicken comes with bacteria too, living in the intestinal tracts and flesh of animals, according to PETA USA. And your poultry comes pumped with antibiotics.
Centre for Science and Environment, or CSE, also found high levels of toxic pesticides and insecticides in our colas, and just like their marketing campaigns – the health hazards of Coca Cola and Pepsi are also neck to neck – high enough to cause cancer, cause damage to the nervous and reproductive systems, result in birth defects and cause severe disruption of the immune system. Both colas have similar concentrations of pesticide residues. That’s not all – our coffee and chai is adulterated too.
We are Falling ill – Really ill
According to estimates of the World Health Organization, unsafe food causes 2 million deaths across the world annually – many of them being children. Some other hazards of adulteration include body ache, anaemia, abortion, paralysis, abnormalities of skin and eyes, to name a few.
The high levels of pesticides in vegetables affect fertility and damage the kidney and liver.
Food containing adulterants, harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites and chemical substances is also responsible for more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers.
This World Health Day, let’s Make Food Safe – From Farm to Plate
Today , the 7th of April, is World Health Day. And the theme this year is Food Safety. It is high time we address this issue.
The following facts on food safety were released by Indian Medical Association this World Health Day.
– Ideal temperature for food to remain safe is between 5 to 60 degrees.
– Water has to be roll boiled for a minimum one minute to kill all the organisms.
– Remember when in doubt follow “Heat it, roll boil it, cook it, peel it or forget it.
– Wash vegetables in running water and not in a utensil.
– Keep cooked and uncooked food separately.
– Do not pick up multiple glasses containing drinking water with one hand using multiple fingers to support them.
– Give all your food handlers one tablet of de-worming every 3-6 months.
– Frozen things do not mean they are sterilised.
– Ice should always be made out of pure safe water.
– Bottled water does not mean it is safe. Bottles, if not crushed, may be recycled with unclean water.
– Do not eat leftover food after it has been outside for 2 hours at room temperature.
– Cheaper fruits and vegetables bought in the morning from abundant stock will always be fresh, locally grown and seasonal.
– Do not buy vegetables if all of them are of the same size.
– Avoid buying vegetables which look very bright in colour.
Here is a ready-reckoner on what could possibly be in your plate, and in your drinks. Watch out for these adulterants.
Do you have a tip on eating clean? Share it with The Quint at feedback@thequint.com.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)