Food adulteration has now become a normal practice in almost every part of the country and after the recent updates by the Karnataka government, it is considered extremely essential to avoid incorporating packaged food into the diet. In a recent incident, Karnataka’s health department banned the usage of artificial colours, took cake samples for verification and several other instances that reflect the illegal flow and usage of adulterated ingredients in the market. Let us know what is adulterated food.
What is adulterated food?
Adulterated food has been around in the market for quite some time now and people intentionally or unintentionally degrade the quality of food with ingredients added to it. Since we are looking for various ways to deal with the overgrowing population, the daily necessity aka food is getting contaminated despite various measures taken by the government. Adulteration is an offence where food fails to meet the legal standards set by the government.
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Recently, a report took the internet by storm when Karnataka’s food regulator found cancer-causing agents in cake samples. The state’s food and safety department has recently found 12 carcinogenic ingredients after testing 235 samples of cake across the region. Most artificial dyes like Sunset Yellow FCF, Allura red, ponceau 4R, Tartrazine and Carmoisine are harmful and cause long-term health problems.
Reportedly, these dyes are present in black forest and red velvet cake which makes it equally harmful for consumption. Food safety commissioner Srinivas K warned bakeries to restrict the use of harmful chemicals and artificial colourings in the cakes.
Another report issued by Karnataka’s health department mentioned banning the artificial colours in chicken kebabs, vegetarian dishes and fish-based dishes which don’t meet the level of legal food standards. The health department collected 39 kebab samples from various parts of the state and out of the 12 samples, 7 kebabs had sunset yellow and carmoisine food colours that are supplying cancer-causing agents in the body.
After banning various ingredients and issuing safety across the state, Karnataka is targeting one of the beloved street foods gol gappas as well. Widely consumed in almost every part of the state, over 200 samples have been collected from various regions including Bengaluru. The health department is randomly testing this watery delight to ensure safety. According to the sources, 22% of Pani puri samples failed to meet the standards in Karnataka.
Karnataka’s health department has been issuing guidelines for natives to think twice or thrice before consuming shawarma and gol gappas because of bacteria and yeast traces in the food dishes. The state has already banned the consumption of cabbage Manchurian because of carcinogenic chemicals and more.
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According to 2020-21 Karnataka’s food safety report, the state ranks ninth out of 20 large states in terms of food safety. The health and food department has been running constant tests and procedures to expose the adulterated food in the market. Some other examples of adulterated food ingredients available in Karnataka are toor dal, black pepper, Bengal gram, cardamom, clove and more.
It is important to focus on incorporating healthy and nutritious food products in the daily menu for overall holistic health. The government is conducting tests to avoid potential health risks.