AMERICANS are consuming more food additives in their diet than in the past, a new study has found. Food additives are substances that are added to foods to improve their taste, texture, and appearance. Some additives, such as preservatives and antioxidants, are added to prevent spoilage and increase the shelf life of the food. However, some food additives have been linked to health problems such as allergic reactions, hyperactivity, and cancer. While some others are safe to consume in small amounts, the consumption of large amounts of additives can have negative health consequences. Around sixty percent of the foods purchased by Americans contain food additives, a 10 percent increase since 2001, as per the research.
The point of highlighting this study here is that if food in America – one of the countries with the best regulation of the food industry in the world – can be so liberally laced with additives, what could be the situation on this side of the globe, or for that matter in India. In fact, in our country, the problem is not only about food additives but more gravely, it is about food adulteration. Recently, the Chief Executive Officer of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), G Kamala Vardhana Rao, urged states to increase their efforts to monitor and sample food products in order to reduce food adulteration and ensure compliance with the laid down requirements. But this is easier said than done. It is a menace that hasn’t been easy to fight.
The food adulteration is also widely prevalent in Jammu and Kashmir and there haven’t been any serious efforts to address it. In recent years, food contamination and adulteration have emerged as major issues in the union territory. Hazardous agents have been found to have been used even in the food products of some major local food companies. Sadly, J&K government has so far done little about the growing food adulteration in the UT, which has now been proven to be one of the factors leading to the rise in cases of cancer in the valley. the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura has recorded over 27,000 cancer patients According to the latest data in the last six years,. Overall, around 51,000 cancer cases have been registered in the UT over the past four years.
The rise in the incidence of the deadly disease is, therefore, a wake-up call. The government has to get cracking on the unscrupulous traders and expose the use of chemicals and dyes in food. And at least, to start with, there has to be a campaign to create more awareness of the ways in which our food is adulterated.
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