Food Adulteration is the major problem related to food faced by all the countries all over the world. Not only the developing countries like India, all the developed countries are facing the problem of Food Adulteration. As a result of this the people who consume the adulterated food are badly affected and sometimes even may resulting to food poisoning. Sometimes the results of consumption of adulterated food are immediate. In other cases the affect may be delayed and the delayed affect may be more dangerous even which may lead to cancer. The best example of this delayed effect is consumption of metal contaminated food. Metals enter into the food through air, water, soil or by industrial pollution and contaminate the food. Metallic components of arsenic oxides, Barium carbonates may accidentally make their way into the foods. Packaging material, containers, metal machinery that is used during food processing and distribution are the other sources of contamination. Metals are naturally present in foods and even mere changes in the dietary uptake it leads to toxic effects. Some of the metals like lead, tin cadmium, mercury, arsenic, zinc, copper, aluminum, cobalt and chromium when consumed in large quantities are toxic. Studies conducted by scientists at Industrial Toxicology Research centre, Lucknow found that silver foil used for sweets and in pan masala contain nickel, lead, chromium, and cadmium. These metals when accumulated slowly in the body become carcinogenic and may result in cancer. Silver foil with a purity of 99% can be used in edible form. A survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical research (ICMR) also found high levels of pesticide residues in bovine milk and metals like arsenic, cadmium and lead in infant canned products and turmeric. Nickel, a trace metal that could cause cancer is present in Indian chocolates, water, and hydrogenated vegetable oil and even in milk. These types of Adulterants which are incidentally which enters the food products are called as Incidental Adulterants or Unintentional Adulterants.
The Incidental adulterants pass sequentially through the food chian in the following way: Contamination begins when farmers use pesticides to protect crops. The Health department sprays pesticides to control malaria-causing mosquitoes. Residues remain long after spraying .Cattle, fodder and chicken feed are affected, and ground water, meat, fish, milk and egg get toxic. More spraying done to prevent fungus and rodents from attacking stored grain. Further increases the residue levels in foodstuffs. Sellers dip vegetables in pesticides to make them look fresh as well as to preserve them. Oils and sweets are adulterated with prohibited substances. Even after cooking toxic residues are not destroyed and when ingested pesticides are absorbed by small intestine. Fatty tissues present in the body store these pesticides which can lead to the damage of heart, Brain, kidney and liver. Strict control on various sources of contamination, established control of quality control by authorities, strict follow up with the accepted standards and food labeling will avoid the excessive contamination of food with metals. These standards and rules include Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954(PFA 1954), PFA Rules 1955, Standard weights and measures Act 1976, AGMARK, Bureau of Indian Standards (ISI) , Food Safety and Standard Act 2006( FSSA 2006 ).
The incidental poisoning can be prevented by doing the following things:
–>Regular market surveys to warn people dangerous build-up of toxins in food.
–>Stepping up the integrated pest-management programme to teach farmers to use pesticides judiciously. No spraying should be done a week, before harvest.
–>Taking up on a war footing the control of pests using their natural predators.
–>Using safer pesticides like synthetic pyrethroids or Malathion.
–>By washing vegetables thoroughly before cooking.