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MR S.N.Sinha was flying from Patna to Ahmedabad. Soon after take off, food was served as usual on the flight. But even as Sinha began to eat, a sharp metallic object pierced his gum, causing him immense pain and a bleeding injury, forcing him to see a doctor immediately after the flight. Holding the airlines responsible, he filed a complaint before the consumer court and got a compensation of Rs 2000 for the suffering caused to him. This was one of the first cases filed before the consumer court in the country. (Indian Airlines, New Delhi Vs S.N.Sinha, First Appeal No 56 and 71 of 1990, decided on 9-11-1990) I do not know if anyone investigated into the source of the metallic object. If they had, I am sure it would turn out to be a large stapler pin used in one of the food packets. Some years ago, a consumer activist from Tamil Nadu related an equally horrifying incident: a serious internal injury caused to a man following accidental swallowing of stapler pins. Apparently, the man bought some hot pakoris, which were wrapped in paper and stapled. They must have fallen into the food, when the man opened the packet. Or the pins could already have been in the pakoris. In any case, when he consumed the food, he also took in the pins and the serious injuries caused required him to be hospitalised. Last Divali, a friend told me about a large stapler pin found in a badam burfi bought from a well- known sweetmeat seller. Her four-year-old child wanted to eat the sweet and, fortunately, she offered to break it into two and when she did, she found this huge stapler pin. "I shudder to think of what would have happened if the child had consumed it", she said. Today you find retailers using staplers on packets containing anything from ground spices, rusk, biscuit, rice, flour, lentils, to namkeen or savouries. Not only can they get into the food, but also cause serious injuries. Unfortunately, retailers do not seem to realise the danger inherent in such use and also the possibility of consumers suing them under the Consumer Protection Act, for any injury or suffering caused on account of such pins getting into food. Retailer education and consumer protests can stop such indiscriminate use of staplers. But as far as food packets are concerned, the Health Ministry has to take cognisance of the problem, step in and prohibit its use in food packets. Just as it has banned, under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, the use of non-food grade plastic for packaging food, it should put a stop to stapling of food packets. Besides getting into food, the stapler pins can also cause injury to the fingers, when we try to remove them carefully from the packet, so that they do not fall into the food. In fact, there have been cases where consumers have had to take anti-tetanus injections following such bleeding injury to their fingers. Remember the problems we used to have when currency notes used to be bundled together with innumerable staples? They not only damaged the notes, but also made the task of unbundling, quite difficult and complicated. Fortunately, the RBI traced the root cause of torn and mutilated notes to this stapling and finally put stop to the practice. The Health Ministry should now follow suit in case of food packages. Even otherwise, consumers should protest over mindless stapling. Courier companies I think are the biggest culprits here. The envelope or the cover is stapled at so many places that it takes quite some time and effort to remove the staples and in the process, there is every possibility of important letters, cheques and even greeting cards getting torn or damaged. Or the fingers of those trying to pry open the mail getting injured. So it’s time we made a
conscious effort to cut down the use of staplers and completely stopped
their usage in food packets. Recently, when I bought some condiments at
a store in Bangalore, the shopkeeper told me that he had stopped using
staplers following complaints from consumers. He had started using zip
locks – that may cost a little more, but were safer and easier to open
and close. Or he used paper adhesives. In fact, for many years, I have
seen shops selling coffee powder in Bangalore using paper bags and a
small strip of paper adhesives to lock the bag. I wish more retailers
followed this example. |
