When you see food, think of colours RITU participated in the festivities at a friend’s place. Next morning she woke up with a bad throat and difficulty in breathing. What she didn’t realise was that her respiratory system had developed an allergic reaction to the colours in food she had taken the night before. As an advertisement says, "Whenever you see colour, think of us." So also chorus all restaurants, bakeries, sweet shops, ice-cream parlours and even caterers. If there is any thing that sustains us apart from the air we breathe, it is the food. We are forever enticed by colourful gastronomic delights jalebis, ice-creams, ketchups, cakes and so on. Do we ever stop to ponder that some of these bright alluring hues are highly toxic? Perhaps a majority of us don’t even know that under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, no cooked food is permitted to have any colouring agent. Broadly, colours are divided into two categories – natural and synthetic. Natural colours are permitted in any food, in any proportion. While the known natural colours are saffron, chlorophyll, caramel and turmeric, synthetic colours are represented by the four basic shades i.e. red, yellow blue and green. The Act states that synthetic colours are permitted in only certain food items within the limit specified for the particular item. For instance, in beverages, the maximum unit is 100 parts (gm) per million. In case of ice-creams, biscuits, cakes, pastries, jams and fruit syrups the limit is 200 gm per million. The use of colouring agent in cooked food is totally prohibited. It is mandatory for synthetic colours to conform to the ISI specifications. It is appalling to see that general public is mostly unaware of the rules and regulations, which impose restrictions on the indiscriminate use of colours in the food items. Most of us equate the quality of the sauce with its redness. With the ignorance level being rather high, the most important question that arises is, "How safe are food colours?" Leading chemical technologists are of the opinion that food additives are consumed in varying amounts and strictly speaking, enough of anything can be toxic. (Toxicity is the adverse effect of chemical and physical agents on living systems). A look at the various brands of food colours available in the market, showed that the common ingredient used by a majority of food parlours were lead chromate and metanil yellow. Other ingredients include propylene glycol and a certain other type of dye contents. Propylene glycol is generally used to clean the colon before surgery. It acts as a laxative. Consumed via a coloured food item, it could act in a similar manner. Non-approved dyes pose more serious threat to health. Metanil yellow, the colour of choice of food adulterer, has been shown to cause testicular degeneration and also have carcinogenic effect in isolated cases. World over doctors see a large number of patients complaining of skin rashes, urticaria and respiratory allergies after eating food items which have been coloured. Animal toxicity experiments have revealed long term effects such as pathological lesions in vital organs like spleen, liver and kidney of the test animals with certain other commonly used dyes in popular food products. With eating houses mushrooming and more food items available in catchy packs the time has come to take concrete steps to safeguard the health of the consumers. With laxity in inspection and policing, errant food makers often get away scott free. — Dr R. Vatsyayan |
‘Make women aware
about menopause’ LUDHIANA, Sept 28 — About 50 per cent of the menopausal women usually suffer from urogenital problems with a high recurrence rate. Dr Neena Singh of B. L. Kapoor Memorial Hospital stated this during a talk show on menopause organised by a local parlour yesterday. She said that according to the data available about 10 crore present post-menopausal population would be doubled by the year 2030. Since the life expectancy of urban women was increasing, more awareness was required for the healthy living by the women of society. She said that with the oncoming of hot flushes and irritability and vasomotor instability, one should understand the approaching state along with the a trophic changes in the later stages of menopause. Psychological changes like insomnia, loss of self-confidence and irritability were also noticed. The hormonal changes in the body could lead to high frequency of incidences of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disorder, heart attack and even strokes. She also informed that the hormonal replacement therapy under the guidance of the doctor was the best treatment available for the problem, but due to lack of awareness and proper knowledge, it was not so popular in India. |
Work on lawyers’ chambers to start
soon LUDHIANA This was decided at a meeting attended by the Principal Secretary, Home Mr Bikram Singh, here today with senior district officers and representatives of the association. Mr Bikram Singh emphasised upon the district officials and the PWD, the executing agency, to ensure good quality of construction work and time-bound completion of the project. The complex, when completed, would accommodate another 34 courts and total shifting of the courts to the new complex would be possible, providing much relief to lawyers, who had to shuttle between old and new courts at present. Among others, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr
S.K.Sandhu, the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, Dr S.S.Sandhu, the ADC, Mr S.R.Kler, and the president of the District Bar Association, Mr Harish Rai Dhanda, attended the meeting. |
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