Here's How You Could Ensure That The Food You Eat Is Safe And Hygienic

Food safety is being widely discussed these days. If something can remain in the news cycle during the general election season, then it is safe to assume that consumers are concerned. 

News of heavy metals in vegetables, carcinogen ethylene oxide in exported spices (independent testing has found it in the domestic market too), food inspectors finding expired sauces and condiments and live cockroaches in the kitchens of fine dining restaurants and dessert shops having expired sauces and unlabeled foods in Hyderabad, a child who died eating a birthday cake in Patiala ordered from a cloud kitchen have shocked and alarmed us. As recent as four days ago, the Delhi police seized 15 tonnes of spurious spices adulterated with acid and wood dust. Going about our basic three meals, whether cooked at home, eating out or ordering seems like being a part of the reality show Fear Factor. 

For those of you who feel growing your food on your farm is the only way out, even that comes with no guarantees of safety because of heavily contaminated groundwater.

How To Ensure Safety?

Food that is meant to nourish and protect us has turned into a source of worry and fear, more so when you are providing for your kids. 

Food safety guidelines are a relatively new concept in India. This was established in 2006 via the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was established in 2008 under this act. While 15 years is a long enough period to lay down strict guidelines and implement them, decades of poor food hygiene, contamination in food, intentional adulteration of ingredients, lack of traceability with loosely sold food items and the need for cost-cutting have all contributed to the mess we are in today. Add to that, the lack of robust measures enforced by FSSAI to guarantee food safety.

Pesticides and carcinogens in packaged foods, restaurants, and cloud kitchens mushrooming and operating with hardly any hygiene measures and unsafe practices have left us in a quandary.

Given all these hurdles, how can we still manage to eat safe food and keep ourselves and our families healthy? 

Here are some practical tips. Most of these will involve extra time and effort, but I firmly believe that when it comes to our health, this investment is worth it.

1. Buy fresh produce, online or from local stores 2-3 times a week. Wash well in water and then a brief soak (around 15 mins) in a tub of water with vinegar added to it. Wipe dry and store. Wash greens just before using. Support local farms that you trust if you have access to them. In my residential complex, we place bulk orders with a local farm, that delivers to us a mixed box of veggies that is grown that week. 

2. For dry groceries and spices, it’s better to visit your local trusted supermarket and buy properly labelled reputed brands. While the MDH & Everest fiasco has made us question the safety of reputed brands, unbranded products or stuff sold loose (unpackaged) have zero accountability. In many localities, there are spice shops that have been running for several decades. Talk to them to find out their source. It is a good way to spread awareness to the shopkeepers.

3. A good practice is to sun all the groceries before putting them into jars. Sun whole spices and grind your basic spice powders like chilli, coriander, cumin, etc. Grinding whole turmeric at home could be a problem as it can break the blades of the mixer jar. Our older generations would get them ground in a chakki mill, but finding one of these in your locality could be a problem and the hygiene in these mills is also suspect. Buy the more complex masalas like chole/ pav bhaji from a local/organic brand you trust. Or just prepare the dishes using basic spices ground at home.

4. Cook your dishes at home using these basic groceries and spices. The more limited your list is like a capsule wardrobe of ingredients, the easier it is to stay in control of the quality. Don’t be fussed about repeating basic dishes and meals like eggs, paneer, and mixed veg curries.

5. Ensure that most of your meals are cooked at home. We can easily ensure cleanliness and hygiene in a home kitchen, as it is under our control. If you can’t cook yourself due to time or skill issues, then make sure you monitor your cook and train them well for hygiene, food safety, and cooking techniques. The same goes for office canteens and food courts. Hire a nutritional expert and food safety inspector to ensure that the quality of food your employees are eating is safe for them.

Also Read: Knowing How To Cook Saves Your Life In More Ways Than One

 

6. Don’t be afraid to cook bigger batches and freeze or refrigerate and use that in one shot if you are cooking 2-3 meals. It’s much better to eat home home-cooked reheated meal than to order in. 

7. Don’t try to wing your meals for the week. Always be well planned, so the meals are prepped and planned before meal time. Being without a plan and reaching meal time hungry is surely going to make you open the delivery apps.

8. Limit eating out, and seriously limit ordering in. I don’t think we dine out too much, but the convenience of delivery apps has made us order way too often. Most of the places listed on these apps are cloud kitchens, with no detailed address given. Even the big-name restaurants could be delivering from cloud kitchens so the food reaches you within 30 minutes. Delete food delivery apps if possible. Save a ton of money and most importantly save your health.

It is worthwhile knowing that these recent detections of lapses in food safety do not mean that these lapses did not exist earlier. Food is not suddenly worse off now, it’s just that we know more about it thanks to the media. There’s no point in going into panic mode. Using these current events as a nudge to make overall healthier choices when it comes to food is a wiser thing to do.