Does your child sit on that plastic chair and study for long hours, every day? Not recommended, says,
Dr N Anandavally, FAO consultant, United Nations (UN) and Food Safety and Standards Act.This time for the annual New Year celebrations of the Thampurattipparambu Road Residents Association, which went past mid-January, everyone got some crucial gyan on living a safe life, thanks to Anandam, my old friend, with whom I had lost contact a decade or so ago. I was pleasantly surprised to see her as the main speaker here, the association celebrations, of which I am a resident too.
With more than 30 years experience in food safety practices, she is passionate about this subject and went into the depths of each issue and question. Say HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, a preventative food safety system in which every step in the manufacture, storage and distribution of a food product is scientifically analyzed for microbiological, physical and chemical hazards) and Anandam would get all animated, gesticulating, telling you about the dos and donts in the kitchen and in places where large amounts of food is made. It is this interest and passion which took her to all parts of the globe, where she taught what she mastered and mastered new things. So here are some points of her talk.
All colours and other things added to make food attractive or tasty, above the permissible levels, which are chemicals, have the power of affecting your organs and also causing cancer. All that yellow and orange jilebis! Hm.....
There is no guarantee that the chilli powder, coriander powder or other powders that you buy are genuine. Most of them have added colours, the levels of which are usually higher than what is permissible by law. So make your own cooking masalas. Buy chilli etc, wash, dry it in the sun and get it powdered.
Read the labels always. That will save you a lot of unwanted trouble and disease. Ajinamoto is added to all things as it is addictive and will make you ask for more. So many packages of ready-to-eat food have this chemical which causes obesity and also harms the liver and kidney. (I threw out my ajinomoto packet just now).
Simple things like washing your hands after going to the loo prevents many diseases and a tummy upset.
Keep milk in the chiller, never in the freezer. Store milk for only 48 hours. When you buy eggs, ALWAYS, wash them first before storing them in the fridge. Most diseases begin from the fridge! Old stuff contaminates new stuff.......and the chain goes on. So clean the fridge once a week, compulsorily! And remember to cover all food in the fridge. Also wash the vegetables well, with vinegar added water and dry it before storing it in the fridge. Make it a habit. Growing at least some vegetables at home helps.
Why do people say too much sugar is bad? Because it is a chemical that makes sugar white. Substitute jaggery where you can.
Most of the chocolate-cream biscuits have neither chocolate nor cream! This sure hit me hard! Transfats do the trick!
Some plastic vessels have a label saying micrawavable. It means the container wont get harmed. Nobody tells you whether the food in it gets harmed. This is still being debated. And oh...about sitting in that plastic chair.....more than a thousand chemicals go towards making that chair, so too much contact for too long can be harmful to a child.
Spreading information like this can make the world a healthier place, my friend Anandam says. She has trained thousands of people in the food sector in many countries and within India too, taking the message further and further........may this also go as far as possible........
Dr N Anandavally, FAO consultant, United Nations (UN) and Food Safety and Standards Act.This time for the annual New Year celebrations of the Thampurattipparambu Road Residents Association, which went past mid-January, everyone got some crucial gyan on living a safe life, thanks to Anandam, my old friend, with whom I had lost contact a decade or so ago. I was pleasantly surprised to see her as the main speaker here, the association celebrations, of which I am a resident too.
With more than 30 years experience in food safety practices, she is passionate about this subject and went into the depths of each issue and question. Say HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, a preventative food safety system in which every step in the manufacture, storage and distribution of a food product is scientifically analyzed for microbiological, physical and chemical hazards) and Anandam would get all animated, gesticulating, telling you about the dos and donts in the kitchen and in places where large amounts of food is made. It is this interest and passion which took her to all parts of the globe, where she taught what she mastered and mastered new things. So here are some points of her talk.
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| Dr N Anandavally |
There is no guarantee that the chilli powder, coriander powder or other powders that you buy are genuine. Most of them have added colours, the levels of which are usually higher than what is permissible by law. So make your own cooking masalas. Buy chilli etc, wash, dry it in the sun and get it powdered.
Read the labels always. That will save you a lot of unwanted trouble and disease. Ajinamoto is added to all things as it is addictive and will make you ask for more. So many packages of ready-to-eat food have this chemical which causes obesity and also harms the liver and kidney. (I threw out my ajinomoto packet just now).
Simple things like washing your hands after going to the loo prevents many diseases and a tummy upset.
Keep milk in the chiller, never in the freezer. Store milk for only 48 hours. When you buy eggs, ALWAYS, wash them first before storing them in the fridge. Most diseases begin from the fridge! Old stuff contaminates new stuff.......and the chain goes on. So clean the fridge once a week, compulsorily! And remember to cover all food in the fridge. Also wash the vegetables well, with vinegar added water and dry it before storing it in the fridge. Make it a habit. Growing at least some vegetables at home helps.
Why do people say too much sugar is bad? Because it is a chemical that makes sugar white. Substitute jaggery where you can.
Most of the chocolate-cream biscuits have neither chocolate nor cream! This sure hit me hard! Transfats do the trick!
Some plastic vessels have a label saying micrawavable. It means the container wont get harmed. Nobody tells you whether the food in it gets harmed. This is still being debated. And oh...about sitting in that plastic chair.....more than a thousand chemicals go towards making that chair, so too much contact for too long can be harmful to a child.
Spreading information like this can make the world a healthier place, my friend Anandam says. She has trained thousands of people in the food sector in many countries and within India too, taking the message further and further........may this also go as far as possible........
