| The Sunday Times Economic Analysis By the Economist | ||||||
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The
all American meal: Are we eating rubbish? The country
has reached a stage of development when it is inadequate to consider
Changes that
have occurred in the economy and society in recent decades have
had adverse impacts on the quality of food consumption. Poor quality
food and dangerous substances in food are responsible for the rise
of many diseases. There is a
need to complement the concern with providing adequate calories
for people with a concern with the quality and health impacts of
the food they eat. Unfortunately this aspect of food consumption
has had inadequate attention by government as well as people themselves.
The problem has reached such significant proportions that we may
ask: are we eating rubbish? The rise in
illnesses such as diabetes, coronary heart conditions and cancer
are partly due to the poor quality of food consumed by people. There
is a vital need to address this issue as the health of people, as
well as the economy, is affected. Increases in illnesses means that
there is a need to increase investments and expenditure on health
and the efficiency of the workforce is adversely affected. The number
and proportion of households dependent on vendors for their food
needs has increased enormously. This is quite evident when one sees
the growth of food stalls, particularly in the cities and towns.
When one looks around at food stalls and manner of selling food,
one wonders whether the urban population in particular are eating
rubbish. This phenomenon of easy foods purchased from outside is
a modern phenomenon that has led to these fast foods being described
as junk foods. Eric Schlosser in his recent book Fast Food Nation: What the All
American Meal is Doing to the World, discloses the shocking manner
of artificial preparation of these foods in the western world that
not only transforms the food we eat but the world itself. Tasty
fast foods could be nasty health hazards. The socio-economic
developments in the country in recent years have brought about a
need to protect the consumer from poor quality foods, unhygienic
preparation and sale of food, and harmful extraneous substances,
particularly in foods sold by vendors. Food sold in small restaurants,
cafes and on the side walks are not subject to an effective surveillance
to ensure their hygienic preparation. Furthermore, they are often
exposed to dust and motor fumes. These foods are also likely to
contain, inter alia, a higher than permissible proportion of lead,
pesticide residues and coliform bacteria. The existing
laws that are expected to be implemented by municipal and urban
councils are well known to be practised in the breach. There is
a lack of personnel to enforce the existing laws and regulations,
the inspectors are poorly paid and are known to be subject to bribery.
The very few cases of prosecution are evidence of the inadequate
implementation of the regulations. Media publicity
has sometimes drawn attention to these, but readers are familiar
with the unhygienic conditions that make such exposure except those
that are grossly bad not even newsworthy. There is also a need to
revise and modernise the regulations pertaining to food preparation
and contamination. It is also
common knowledge that fruits sold on the roadside and markets have
used poisonous carbide for quick ripening. Fish is preserved by
the use of morphine. Vegetables are sprayed with toxic substances
that are health hazards and costly to people. All these require
to be monitored and prevented. Another important
area for action is to ensure by law the sale of food containing
minimum nutritional ingredients and the prohibition of foods whose
nutritional ingredients have been extracted. We have the unusual
situation when the government itself has been responsible for providing
nutritionally deficient food. Wheat flour that is mostly available
and consumed by Sri Lankans is the 74 per cent extraction wheat
of Prima Mills. Such extractions
of nutrients are responsible for many illnesses like diabetes and
cardiology conditions. Children brought up on such nutritionally
deficient food would develop symptoms of these illnesses early.
Apart from preventing the sale of nutritionally deficient foods,
action should be taken to introduce nutritionally fortified foods. Much of the
success of improving the nutritional and hygienic quality of food
depends on the nutritional awareness of people and their efforts
to ensure that they are given a fair deal in food. Consumer resistance
to unhygienic, harmful and nutritionally deficient food would indeed
be an important means of ensuring better quality food. However a more widespread government regulations and their effective implementation are needed to ensure that our health is not at risk. A healthy nation is vital for a healthy economy. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
merely
the quantity of food that a person has access to but the quality
of food people consume too has also become pertinent in evaluating
the food situation in the country.
