TSE talks health hazards of eatables wrapped in newspapers

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Dec 4 : Overlooking all the health hazards and completely defying the guidelines laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), many eatables are still wrapped in newspapers.
Nonetheless, some conscious people have started wrapping eatables with banana leaves.
During a random survey conducted by The Sangai Express, many local tea shops were found serving or wrapping eatables with newspapers.
Likewise, popular snack items like bora, kanghou, singju, samosa, kachouri, jalebi, laddu etc were also found wrapped with newspapers.
Some Food Safety officers said that the ink and chemicals used in newspapers can cause serious health problems and even death slowly, if not immediately but it appears that many people in the State are not aware of this fact.
The ink used in printing newspapers contains lead, cadmium, carbon black and other colour TSE brings hazard
pigments. These chemicals are toxic.
If these toxic chemicals get mixed with eatables, they can breed different health problems, they said.
A guideline issued by the FSSAI under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 on ‘Restricting the use of Newspapers as Food Packaging Material’ on December 6, 2016 noted that packaging eatable items with newspapers is quite common across India.
Even if the food items are cooked in a hygienic manner, the same food items can be harmful to the body if they are packaged using newspapers.
The guideline issued by the FSSAI said that consumption of food items packed with newspapers can cause slow poisoning.
Inks used in newspapers contain multiple bioactive materials and they can cause negative health effects.
Newspaper inks contain many harmful contaminants and pathogenic microorganisms. They can lead to digestive problems and they are known to be carcinogenic, the FSSAI guideline said.
When deep fried or oily food items are packaged with newspapers, the chemicals  and contaminants present in the newspaper ink are absorbed by the food items. As such, food items packaged with newspapers should always be avoided, the guideline said.
The FSSAI guideline was published by the Government of India and the Government has been advising the public not to consume food items packaged with newspapers.
However, the vendors selling popular snack items like keli chana, singju, paknam etc at Hao Keithel, BT Road were seen abiding by the FSSAI guideline. They too use newspapers for packaging the food items but they also use a layer of either banana leaf or lotus leaf in between.  
At the same time, tal, bora, mixtures etc sold on carts at Thangal Keithel, MG Avenue and Major Khul were found wrapped with newspapers.
Health Services Joint Director (Planning) Dr Y Premchandra told The Sangai Express that not only the ink but also the paper of newspapers pose health hazards as they can be carrying bacteria and germs.
If the lead contained in newspaper ink is consumed together with food items, it can cause lead poisoning resulting in severe kidney and liver problems including cancer, Dr Premchandra said.
He said that pregnant women, children and elderly people should never consume food items packed in newspapers.
Pointing out that banana leaf is available abundantly in the State, he appealed to all concerned to package food items with either banana leaf or food grade containers which are not harmful to human health.
Designated officers, Food Safety administration of the recently concluded Manipur Sangai Festival said that spreading awareness among hoteliers and vendors not to use newspapers for packaging food items is important.
Some hotellers and vendors appealed to the Government to make sure that alternative packaging materials are available abundantly and easily.
The designated officers advised the hotellers and vendors to use either banana leaf or lotus leaf or food grade containers/wrappers.
They said that the Food Safety administration has been spreading awareness among ICDS, Mid-Day Meal workers as well as street vendors on the negative impacts of packaging food items with newspapers and to stop using newspapers for packaging food items.
During the recent Manipur Sangai Festival, the food stall owners were made aware of personal hygiene, good hygienic practices and good manufacturing practices, the designated officers said.