லட்டு, ஜிலேபி, ரஸகுல்லாவுக்கும் எக்ஸ்பையரி தேதி உண்டு தெரியுமா? #HealthAlert

ஸ்வீட் இல்லாத கொண்டாட்டங்கள் இனிப்பதில்லை. மற்றவர்களுடன் மகிழ்ச்சியைப் பகிர்ந்துகொள்ளவும், அன்பை வெளிப்படுத்தவுமான உணர்வுபூர்வமான நிகழ்வுகளில் தவிர்க்க இயலாத ஒன்று ஸ்வீட். யாரையாவது பார்க்கக் கிளம்புவோம், `ஒரு அரைகிலோ இனிப்பு வாங்கிட்டுப் போவோம்’ என ஸ்வீட் கடைப் பக்கம் ஒதுங்குவோம். லட்டு, ஜிலேபி, ரஸகுல்லா... என நமக்குப் பிடித்த இனிப்புகளை வாங்கிக்கொண்டு போவோம். உறவினர்கள், நண்பர்களைப் பார்க்கப் போவது மட்டுமல்ல, சாதாரணமாகவே ஏதோ ஒரு மகிழ்ச்சியான சம்பவத்தைக் கொண்டாடக்கூட உதவுவது இந்த இனிப்பு வகைகள்தான்.

சாலைகளில் செல்லும்போது, நம் கவனத்தை பல ஸ்வீட் ஸ்டால்கள் ஈர்ப்பதுண்டு. பல வண்ணங்களில், விதவிதமான டிசைன்களில், இனிப்புகளை ஒன்றன்மீது ஒன்றாக அழகாக அடுக்கிவைத்திருப்பார்கள். பார்க்கும்போதே, இதை வாங்கலாமா, அதை வாங்கலாமா, சமயத்தில், அத்தனையையும் வாங்கி விடலாமா என்றுகூடத் தோன்றும். அப்படி வாங்கும் `இனிப்புப் பலகாரங்களோடு ஆபத்தும் சேர்ந்தே வரலாம்’ என்கிறார்கள் மருத்துவர்கள்.

`தரமான எண்ணெய் அல்லது நெய், சர்க்கரை, மாவு, நிர்ணயிக்கப்பட்ட வண்ணம் ஆகியவற்றைப் பயன்படுத்தித்தான் ஸ்வீட் தயாரிக்க வேண்டும்’ என்கிறது உணவு தரக்கட்டுப்பாட்டு நிறுவனம். ஆனால், பெரும்பாலான பேக்கரி மற்றும் ஸ்வீட் ஸ்டால்களில் தரமற்ற எண்ணெய், தரமற்ற மூலப்பொருள்களைக் கொண்டு, வாடிக்கையாளர்களைக் கவர்ந்திழுக்க கண்ணைப் பறிக்கும் நிறங்களில் ஸ்வீட் தயாரித்து விற்பனை செய்கிறார்கள். இவற்றைச் சாப்பிடுபவர்கள் பல்வேறு உடல் உபாதைகளுக்கு ஆளாக நேரிடலாம். 

சோப்பு, ஷாம்பூ, எண்ணெய்... என நாம் பயன்படுத்தும் அத்தியாவசியப் பொருள்கள் அனைத்திலும் அவை கலாவதியாகும் நாள் குறிப்பிடப்பட்டிருக்கும். அதைப் பயன்படுத்தலாமா எனப் பார்த்து வாங்கலாம். ஆனால், ஸ்வீட் ஸ்டால்கள், பேக்கரிகளில் விற்பனையாகும் இனிப்புகள் என்றைக்குத் தயாரிக்கப்பட்டவை என்பது கடைகாரர்களுக்கே வெளிச்சம். அதேபோல, எத்தனை நாளைக்குள் அவற்றைப் பயன்படுத்தலாம் என்பதும் நம்மில் பலருக்குத் தெரிவதில்லை. சில நேரங்களில் வீட்டுக்கு வந்து, வாங்கிவந்த ஊசிப்போன வாடையடிக்கும் முறுக்கையோ, ஸ்வீட்டையோ சாப்பிட்டுவிட்டு முகம் சுளிப்போம். அதிகபட்சமாக அந்தக் கடையில் போய் திரும்ப பலகாரம் வாங்கக் கூடாது என முடிவெடுப்போம். அதே இனிப்பை நாம் யாருக்காவது கொடுத்திருந்தால், அவர் நம்மைப் பற்றி என்ன நினைப்பார் என்று எண்ணிப் பாருங்கள்! ஆக, இனிப்புகளுக்கும் காலாவதி உண்டு. அதை அறிந்துகொள்ள வேண்டியது அவசியம்.

சரி... இனிப்புகளுக்கான காலவதி தேதியை அறிவது எப்படி? மூத்த உணவியல் நிபுணர் தாரணி கிருஷ்ணனிடம் கேட்டோம். 

"எந்த உணவுப் பொருளுக்குமே காலவதியாகும் தேதி என்ற ஒன்று உண்டு. அந்த நாளுக்குள் அதைப் பயன்படுத்திவிடுவதுதான் நல்லது. மற்ற உணவுகளைப்போல ஸ்வீட்டுக்கும் இது பொருந்தும்.

எப்படிக் கண்டறிவது?

ஸ்வீட் வாங்கும்போது, முதலில் அதில் வெள்ளையாக பூஞ்சைத் தொற்று உள்ளதா என்பதைக் கவனிக்க வேண்டும். அது, ஸ்வீட்டைக் கையில் எடுத்துப் பார்த்தாலே தெரிந்துவிடும். அதேபோல ஓர் இனிப்புப் பலகாரம், நாம் வழக்கமாகப் பார்க்கும் நிறத்தைவிட அதிகளவு ஈர்க்கக்கூடிய நிறத்தில் இருக்கக் கூடாது. ஸ்வீட் கெட்டுப்போய்விட்டதா என்பதை அதன் சுவையே உணர்த்திவிடும். அப்படி கெட்டுப்போயிருக்கும் எனச் சந்தேகப்பட்டால், சிறிதளவு சாம்பிள் வாங்கிக் கடையிலேயே சாப்பிட்டுப் பார்த்துவிட்டு, பிறகு வாங்குவது நல்லது. 

ஸ்வீட் ஈக்கள் மொய்த்தபடி சுகாதரமற்ற நிலையில் இருந்தால், வாங்கக் கூடாது. சூரிய ஒளி பலகாரங்களின் மேல் நேரடியாகப் படாதவாறு பராமரிக்கப்படுகிறதா என்பதையும் சரிபார்த்துவிட்டுப் பிறகு வாங்க வேண்டும். 

இனிப்பு பொருள்களில் பால், ஜீரா (சர்க்கரை நீர்) சேர்க்கப்படும் அளவைப் பொறுத்து அவை கெட்டுப்போகும். எண்ணெய்களால் தயாரிக்கப்பட்ட இனிப்புகளைவிட, நெய்யால் தயாரிக்கப்பட்டவை அதிக நாள் கெடாமல் இருக்கும். 

பொதுவாக, எந்த இனிப்பையும், அது தயாரிக்கப்பட்ட நான்கு நாள்களில் சாப்பிட்டுவிடுவது நல்லது. பாக்கெட்டில் அடைத்து விற்பனை செய்ப்படும் ஸ்வீட்ஸில் காலாவதி தேதியைச் சரிபார்த்துத்தான் வாங்க வேண்டும். மில்க் ஸ்வீட்கள் சாதாரணமாக இரண்டு நாள்கள் வரை கெட்டுபோகாமல் இருக்கும். கெட்டுப்போன இனிப்புகள் வயிற்றுப்போக்கை உண்டாக்கும். சில நேரங்களில் வயிற்றில் பாக்டீரியா உள்ளிட்ட தொற்று வரலாம்" என்கிறார் தாரணி கிருஷ்ணன்.

இதுதொடர்பாக அரசு என்ன செய்கிறது... கெட்டுப்போன பலகாரங்களை விற்கும் கடைக்காரர்கள் மேல் நடவடிக்கை எடுப்பார்களா? உணவு பாதுகாப்புத் துறை அலுவலகத்தைத் தொடர்புகொண்டு இதுபற்றி விசாரித்தோம். அங்கிருந்த அதிகாரி ஒருவர் நம்மிடம் பேசினார்... ``உணவு பாதுகாப்புத் துறை சார்பில் அமைக்கப்பட்ட குழுவினர் தங்கள் பகுதியில் உள்ள பேக்கரி மற்றும் ஸ்டால்களில் திடீர் ஆய்வு செய்வார்கள். ஒவ்வொரு குழுவிலும் நான்கு அதிகாரிகள் இருப்பார்கள். இவர்கள் அடிக்கடி ஆய்வுமேற்கொண்டு சந்தேகத்துக்குரிய ஸ்வீட்களில் சிறிதளவு எடுத்து ஆய்வுக்கு அனுப்புவார்கள். மற்றபடி, புகார் வந்தாலும் ஸ்வீட் ஸ்டாலுக்கு நேரில் சென்று ஆய்வுசெய்வார்கள். இந்த ஆய்வுகளின்போது, இனிப்பு வகைகளில் அனுமதிக்கப்பட்ட கலரைவிட கூடுதலாக கலர் சேர்க்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறதா, தண்ணீர், எண்ணெய், மைதா மாவு, சர்க்கரை உள்பட ஸ்வீட் தயாரிக்கப் பயன்படும் பொருள்கள் தரமானவையாக இருக்கின்றனவா போன்றவற்றையெல்லாம் ஆய்வின்போது கவனிப்பார்கள்.

இனிப்பு வகைகளில் ஏதாவது கலப்படம் கலக்கப்பட்டு இருப்பது தெரியவந்தால், அந்த உரிமையாளருக்கு நோட்டீஸ் அனுப்பப்படும். மேலும் தயாரிக்கப்பட்ட இனிப்புகள் சுகாதாரமற்றவையாக இருந்தால், பறிமுதல் செய்யப்படும். ஆய்வில் தரமற்ற பொருள்களை கொண்டு ஸ்வீட்ஸ் தயாரிக்கப்பட்டது தெரியவந்தால், சம்பந்தப்பட்ட ஸ்டால் உரிமையாளர் மீது உணவு பாதுகாப்புச் சட்டத்தின் கீழ் நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும். குறிப்பாக, தீபாவளி, பொங்கல் போன்ற பண்டிகை தினங்களில்தான் இதுபோன்ற தரமில்லாத பொருள்கள் அதிகளவு கைப்பற்றப்படுகின்றன.

மேலும், பொருளில் கலப்படம் இருப்பதாகச் சந்தேகம் வந்தால், அந்தப் பொருளோடு உங்கள் பகுதியின் சுகாதார அலுவலரைத் தொடர்புகொள்ளலாம். உணவு பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் தர நிர்ணய ஆணைய அலுவலகத்தின் எண்களில் தொடர்பு கொண்டும் புகார் அளிக்கலாம்" என்றவர் தொடர்புகொள்ள வேண்டிய அந்த எண்களையும் நமக்குக் கொடுத்தார்.

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Study: Taking supplements will cut risks by 26%

FSSAI makes food safety supervisors mandatory for all businesses

The supervisors would be responsible for ensuring that food quality is maintained, however, legally the owners would be responsible for lapses.

All food businesses – caterers, manufacturers, companies transporting food items and retail outlets – with 25 or more people handling food will have to have a trained food safety supervisor.

The national food regulator on Friday issued an order making it mandatory for all food businesses – caterers, manufacturers, companies transporting food items and retail outlets – with 25 or more people handling food to have at least one trained ‘food safety supervisor’.

The supervisor would have to be trained under the Food Safety Training and Certification Programme (FoSTaC), designed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The supervisors would be responsible for ensuring that food quality is maintained, however, legally the owners would be responsible for lapses.

“It would be mandatory for all food businesses having Central Licence or State License to have at least one trained and certified Food Safety Supervisor for every 25 food handlers or part thereof on all their premises,” the order read.

“Currently, we have written to the state food safety officers to gauge how much time it will take to train the food safety supervisors. Once done, we will make it mandatory for the big licensed food businesses to have these trained supervisors,” said Pawan Agarwal, chief executive officer of FSSAI.

It would be made mandatory for even the small food business operators (FBOs) in a year or two after the ‘required number of supervisors is trained and a proper framework is in place, he added.

The order says, “All the states/ union territories are now advised to initiate a special drive to take up and facilitate FoSTaC for licensed FBOs under their respective jurisdiction immediately. The above training is too be made mandatory in phases over the next two years.”

The training will be provided by large food business operators that have partnered with the FSSAI, academic and vocational institutes, training partners approved under the Skill Development Councils and Missions, scientific and technology associations and civil society organisations.

FSSAI asks States to appoint nodal officers for food safety training

Designs the content for training in Hindi and 10 regional languages

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6: 

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked all States and Union territories to initiate a special drive to implement its Food Safety and Certification Programme (FoSTac) for all licensed food business operators. It has also asked them to appoint a nodal officer to implement this initiative.Trained supervisor

This FSSAI dictat to States comes after it had made training and certification mandatory for all food businesses that have Central or State licenses.

“It has been decided that all food businesses with Central and State license need to have at least one trained and certified food safety supervisor for every 25 food handlers or part thereof on all their premises,” it stated in its order. These food safety supervisors will need to carry out periodic on site training of all food handlers on a quarterly basis and need to maintain a record for all food safety audit and inspections.

“State and UTs need to designate a senior officer as a nodal officer for FoSTac to implement the policy,” the order stated.

For the implementation of this policy, FSSAI has designed the curriculum and content for training for food businesses across the value chain in Hindi and 10 regional languages.

The training will be delivered through training partners, which include large food businesses, industry associations, academic and vocational institutions, other partners approved under Skill Development Councils among others. It has now even set up a website managing these training programmes, certification and assessment.Action plan

Besides appointing nodal officers, States will now need to develop an action plan for training of food safety supervisors and food handlers on a mandatory basis. They will also need to identify and facilitate empanelment of training partners to implement FoSTac.

New study shows that groundnut immunity to aflatoxin could be within reach thanks to a double-defence approach

Aflatoxin-immune groundnut (<1 ppb after 3 days fungus inoculation) compared to heavily contaminated seeds (over 3,000 ppb)

Aflatoxin infected groundnuts in Malawi. Aflatoxin affects 5 billion people globally with severe impacts on health and livelihoods

Aflatoxin is a hidden burden. It is spread by a deadly pathogen affecting five billion people across the world, but rarely making headlines. It is not carried by birds or mosquitoes, but hidden in staple foods like maize and groundnut. Common moulds, Aspergillus fungi growing naturally on food crops, can produce poisons called aflatoxins, which have serious effects on health, suppressing immune systems, hindering child growth and even causing liver cancer. Taming this fungal threat with a biotechnological double-defence line offers hope to controlling this toxin.

Using innovative biotechnology approaches, researchers have developed groundnuts free from aflatoxins thanks to a double-defence line. By producing small proteins called defensins, these groundnuts can stop the deadly fungus from propagating and infecting. At the same time, the groundnut seeds also emit gene-silencing RNA molecules to help shut down the synthesis of aflatoxin by the fungus. When exposed to the aflatoxin-producing moulds Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus over three days, the double defence groundnut seeds remain untouched, unlike the green and mouldy petri plates of other tested groundnut varieties.

This breakthrough research from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), part of the CGIAR, and their US partners (US Department of Agriculture, Louisiana State University and Donald Danforth Plant Science Center) has just been published in Plant Biotechnology Journal (doi.org/10.1111/pbi.12846). In the coming years, this could lead to significant reduction of aflatoxin contamination in farmers’ fields. This revolutionary approach applies not only to groundnut but also for other important crops like maize, cotton seed, chilli, almond, pistachio etc.

This will radically improve food safety and security especially in Africa and Asia, and avoid thousands of tons of fungi-affected crops being discarded every year or being consumed with unacceptable levels of the toxin.

Aflatoxin impacts the health and livelihoods of billions

Aflatoxin is a very acute public health issue, with five billion people exposed to this toxin across the world. The toxin-producing moulds thrive in poor soils, droughts and damp storage conditions, which means many communities in the drylands are at high risk.

When food contaminated by aflatoxins is ingested in large quantities, it can lead to deadly poisoning with dramatic cases reported in the last 50 years, affecting both humans and livestock. For instance, in Kenya in 2004, a drought year, more than one hundred people died after consuming toxic homegrown maize.

The exact annual death toll due to aflatoxins is however largely underestimated as they have a more insidious long-term impact on health and nutrition. Small amounts ingested daily cause chronic poisoning. Aflatoxin reduces immunity and stunts child growth. High levels of aflatoxin ingestion could lead to numerous cancers, including the deadly liver cirrhosis which is on the rise and kills over 600,000 people every year. Public health experts say that one liver cancer out of four could be due to aflatoxin exposure. A WHO study on estimated disability adjusted life year (DALY) losses from major foodborne illnesses put aflatoxin as top threat, with a societal cost six times higher than peanut allergy [food allergies in the US cost over $20 billion a year].

Developed markets like the USA or Europe have set up stringent food safety norms. In USA, food containing more than 20 parts per billion (ppb) of aflatoxin cannot be sold or exported. For the EU market, it is ten times lesser (2 ppb). This has had tremendous impact on trade, with traditional groundnut-exporting countries like Senegal or Malawi being shut out, resulting in millions of smallholder farmers losing their livelihoods.

Unfortunately, peanuts rejected for export find their way into the less-regulated local markets in Africa and Asia, exposing local populations to acute contamination. A recent study, conducted over three years, on aflatoxin levels in peanut butter sold in Zambia, found that 50-80% brands were highly contaminated, way over the US limit, reaching up to 10,740 µg/kg.

Aflatoxin is a very serious concern in India too. An ICRISAT study recently revealed that in southern India, aflatoxin levels in peanuts may be 40 times higher than allowed by Indian food safety limits. The Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore, also found that all samples of UHT packaged milk tested were contaminated with aflatoxin, with 38% having levels above the food safety limit. This shows that the poison finds its way through the food chain, for instance, if dairy cattle are fed with contaminated feed.

Where to start to prevent aflatoxin contamination

The fungi Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, can stay dormant in the soil for years and infect many important food crops in the fields, such as maize and groundnuts, especially during drought and heat stresses and insect damage. Contamination also happens post-harvest when the grain is stored in unsuitable conditions (hot, humid and not well aired) that encourage fungi to produce the toxin.

Farmers and scientists have tried to reduce aflatoxins in many ways, trying to develop aflatoxin-resistant varieties, improve quality control and post-harvest handling or biocontrol applications with harmless Aspergillus strains to compete with toxic ones in the soil. But these strategies have had very limited success in poor countries, especially for groundnut.

ICRISAT researchers suggest that ideally, the fungal infection should be halted right at the field.

Dr. Pooja Bhatnagar-Mathur, lead author and ICRISAT senior scientist, explains, “We have analysed the way the fungus propagates through the pods in groundnut. By looking at what exists in nature, we then devised biotechnology tools to develop groundnuts that are immune to pre-harvest Aspergillus infection, and are also able to block aflatoxin production in the field as well as under post-harvest storage. ”

Dr. Kiran Sharma, Principal Scientist and co-author of the publication says, “I have been working on aflatoxin mitigation for years and could not see much progress until now. Recent advances in biotechnologies like RNAi technology and genetic transformation offer great potential in developing crops that can resist the infection and growth of the aflatoxin-producing fungus in the field and stop the production of aflatoxin itself.”

The co-author Dr. Deepak Bhatnagar, Director of the USDA South Regional Research Center and a renowned aflatoxin biosynthesis codebreaker fifteen years ago adds, “The strength of this research has been to tap into previous research to create a double-defence line against aflatoxin: first to stop seeds being infected by the fungus and then prevent the fungus from producing aflatoxins.”

Proof of concept to develop aflatoxin-immune groundnut

To boost the groundnut’s immunity against the fungus, researchers developed peanut lines able to produce small peptides known as defensins, that are often produced as immune responses to pathogens by some plants (but not usually groundnut), animals and humans (our eyes produce such immunity molecules). Working together with Dr. Dilip Shah from Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, defensin genes from alfalfa (a protein-rich fodder legume) and the Mediterranean clover were transferred into the DNA of an Aspergillus-susceptible peanut variety (named JL24) widely grown in India and Africa. These new groundnut lines could then have a robust innate immune response against different strains of Aspergillus flavus.

The second approach, called Host-Induced Gene Silencing or HIGS, uses a naturally occurring biological mechanism where plants and pathogens often exchange small nucleic acid molecules, RNAi, during the infection process. It is somewhat like a vaccine where we inject bits of the pathogen in our body to later initiate a strong immune response. In collaboration with researchers from the USDA’s Food and Feed Safety Research Unit and Louisiana State University, ICRISAT researchers were able to transfer into the groundnut, specific small RNA molecules from Aspergillus fungus that are involved in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway, so that the groundnut seeds produce these RNA molecules during fungus attacks. This would inactivate the target genes in the fungus that are responsible for aflatoxin synthesis.

Both approaches show great heritability (tested for over three generations) and remarkable levels of aflatoxin resistance. Using a highly sensitive detection tool (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography), researchers could detect hardly any trace of aflatoxin (below 1 ppb) after three days of fungus inoculation, compared to the control seeds that accumulated over 3000 ppb.

This study shows that groundnut lines infected with the fungus, in conditions well above the field reality, were able to suppress toxin levels to below detectable limits. In a near future, ICRISAT researchers plan some extensive field tests with partners from Asian and African breeding programmes to cross these very promising aflatoxin-resistant lines and validate their agronomic performance according to biosafety regulations.

The innovative research demonstrates a very tangible proof of concept to incorporate high aflatoxin resistance within groundnut breeding programmes. Further study of these aflatoxin-free lines will also help better understand the molecular mechanisms involved, which can be transferred to other crops. This creates a clear roadmap to tame these very harmful food contaminants at their source.

Hard selling of fad diets and vegetable juice: Why are we replacing the fun and happiness in food with fear?

The release of a video called ‘What the Health’ and the general panic in its wake about how we are all eating ourselves into cancer, diabetes and early death has gone viral. It has also spawned a few dietary cousins including one that compels you to drink only vegetable juice and all this effort will make your insides squeaky clean.

What’s bad for you? Everything. We are told that bread (the staff of life), salt (of the earth and worth it), sugar (hi honey) and milk (of human kindness) are foisted upon us by a gigantic conspiracy of the pharmaceutical industry, the egg and dairy industry and the meat and poultry mafias in conjunction with government connivance so that it is a win-win for all … except the consumer who is designated to keel over and become a statistic.

We are all going to die. Right. There is no running away from that solitary reaper. And food is a happy element in our lives. But we are being so easily robbed of that joy.

We are not stupid. Just as we know that smoking is bad for us we also know that processed meats cannot be good. We also know through sheer logic that taking in marbled red meats and oil soaked fast foods will supersize us. Nothing surprising there. If we overdo fried foods and alcohol and eat cream in its many wondrous forms it will clog our arteries.

The scaremongers have based their findings, though, on American portions. The rest of the world eats sparingly in comparison. You know how much you need so if you ignore that simple factor there will be a price to pay. The mountain of French fries, the dozen bacon rashers, salami, pastrami, etc in one serving are about the same as what we would consume as mere mortals in a week. Ergo, the 18% risk is whittled down to a little over 2%.

By the same token it is impossible to scientifically evaluate how a single food damages the human body. No one has done any authoritative study with a dedicated group of volunteers eating only, shall we say, cheese and figured out how it affects them as compared to a group being given placebos. Therefore the premise itself is flawed.

The 2% risk factor is further reduced by the difference between a daily rational intake and an infrequent devouring of any of these dining table adversaries. If i eat a few rashers on a holiday morning or fry an egg or two on toast to go with them, the skies will not fall. The odds would fall to half which is 1%.

There is no gainsaying the fact that spurious foodstuffs and lack of a common yardstick for quality and safety contribute to the illnesses listed in these current denouncements. If you stop eating plump chickens which are hormonally enhanced that makes sense. If you scratch off dyed fruits and vegetable or animal products treated with antibiotics to be made meatier and go organic no one would accuse you of being a ‘fraidy’ cat.

The same measure can be applied to anything that is suspect. Add to this protective decision an up in hygiene so that your cast-iron stomach is not tested because you are avoiding contaminated roadside foods, stale edibles and post sell-by products and you reduce your risk to 0.5%. Add to that an awareness of spurious colourings, injected fruits and other imaginative food adulterations and the risk dwindles even more.

Add to the fraction of the percentage the grimness and joylessness of life without your culinary delights and what is left to enjoy. For years fad diets wrecked happiness and tossed us on this sea of misery. Now, it is being fine tuned with very little scientific fact to make us wallow in calorific guilt. The stress of denial is tangible.

In ‘What the Health’ the visuals compare eggs to smoking five cigarettes and milk and dairy to pure poison. The trick lies not in scare stories and clever manipulations of the mind but in moderate and judicious consumption.

You will live longer and be happier for it.

Food Safety Administration, a joint team of Food Safety Officers was constituted for conducting special raid in the area of Daria

Chandigarh, 6th October, 2017: 

As per the orders of Designated Officer, Food Safety Administration, a joint team of Food Safety Officers was constituted for conducting special raid in the area of Daria and Sector 30 of UT, Chandigarh. In view of the reports of illegal and unauthorized sweets shops mushroomed due to the coming festive season, a special drive was conducted in the said area. The team inspected various shops in Daria and Sector 30 of UT Chandigarh and five samples of sweets consisting of three samples of Khoya Burfi, one of Kalakand and one sample of Gurpara sweet were lifted for analysis & examination. In addition to this about 5 quintals of sweets were destroyed under Epidemic Act as they were being prepared under highly unhygienic and unsanitary conditions and were using prohibited food colours. Along with this three challans were issued to the vendors who were operating without having food licence and were working in un-hygienic conditions. The Food Business Operators were also instructed to keep hygiene and quality standards as per Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006 and were advised not to use any prohibited colours in preparation of sweets and keep the food articles covered.