Food Safety
Dr. V. Sudershan Rao
National Institute of Nutrition
Hyderabad
Food
Safety is an essential component of
Nutrition Access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food is
key to sustaining life and promoting good health.
Unsafe food ---- more than 200 diseases – ranging from
diarrhoea to cancers
World-Food borne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases-----Kill an estimated 2 million people annually, including many
children.
India - 600 children/day, 13.2% HHs reported FB in their
family
Food safety, nutrition and food security are inextricably
linked. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and
malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children,
elderly and the sick (8.74%).
Definition of Food Safety
(FAO/WHO, 2003)
It is the degree of confidence that food will not cause
sickness or harm to the consumer when it is prepared,
served and eaten according to its intended use
Zero contamination is not the concept
Food intake
Home
cooked
Outside
(restaurant,
take-out)
Adulteration
Adulteration, Hygiene
Contaminants
Food safety practices
Processed
Foods
Additives
4
Complete food
Milk protein has high
biological value (Eggs, Meat)
Rich source of bio available
calcium
Milk fat important vehicle
for Vitamin A, D & K
Milk
Most adulterated
commodity in India
Type Of Adulteration -Milk
•
Water
•
Extraction of fats
•
Neutralizers-Sodium bicarbonate, Sodium hydroxide
Hydrogen peroxide, Formalin.
•
Urea
•
Skim milk powder
•
Synthetic milk
1 Liquid detergent
2 Sugar
3 Water
4 Vegetable Fat
5
Urea
Food Additives
Consumer concerns & perceptions
about Food Additives
These are chemicals,
they safe ?
are
All processed foods are
unhealthy, as they are
loaded with food additives
Natural is safe, synthetic
is unsafe
Additives are added to
conceal the defects of
food
Snap survey on adulteration of milk*
(2011)
Region
All India
No. samples not
conforming to
standards
1226
Percentage
68.4
Urban area
845
68.9
Rural area
381
31.0
*N=1791
Implications
for health of consumers
Recommended for children
At 20% addition of water
and 50% abstraction of fat
Over estimate of dietary intakes
500ml of “Top milk”
21.5g protein
32.5g fat
1050 mg of Ca
Protein
Fat
Calcium
Calories
Edible oils
Cheaper oils - Cotton seed,
palm oil, soybean oil etc
1920
Toxic oils -Argemone oil
General Trend
Oraganochlorine residues
MRL, DDT ICMR 1993
All Indian coordinated Project on pesticide
residues Only 4% above MRL
PPM –PPB
Confirmatory methods
37%
Milk
3%
Bhattu etal 2001
Should you worry about pesticide residues ?
Dose decides the toxicity
Amount of pesticide in food x concentration
of pesticide, quantity of food consumed and
body weight( Total diet study)
Organic foods
t
e
Di
l n
a
i
t
o
y
T
d
u
l
t
S
a
r ng
u
i
R
t
t
e
S
(Polasa 2009)
Food Additives
Consumer concerns & perceptions
about Food Additives
These are chemicals,
they safe ?
are
All processed foods are
unhealthy, as they are
loaded with food additives
Natural is safe, synthetic
is unsafe
Additives are added to
conceal the defects of
food
Addition of chemicals to food, Does it
make food unhealthy ?
Additives
Safety first
Technological Function
Process of setting permitted levels
Colors, preservatives, artificial sweeteners,
MSG (Ajinomoto)
s
r
u
o
l
o
C
d
o
o
F
Use of Unpermitted colours
%
Adulteration
Years
Ref. Khanna etal, 1973, 1985
Report of multi centric study, 2001
Dixit etal 2011 What you should know about food colors ?
1. Only 8 colours are permitted
2. Permission is only for limited foods
3. Maximum is 100mg/kg
Permitted synthetic colours and their ADIs
Name of colour
ADI (mg/kg bw)
Regulatory limit
mg/kg
Erythrosine
0-0.1
100
Sunset yellow
0-2.5
100
Carmoisine
0-4.0
100
Ponceau 4R
0- 4.0
100
Indigo carmine
0- 5.0
100
Tartrazine
0- 7.5
100
Brilliant Blue
0-12.5
100
Fast green
0-25.0
100
e
w
S
l
a
i
c
i
f
ti
r
A
s
r
e
n
e
t
e
What you should know about artificial sweeteners ?
Only
safe sweeteners are permitted
Each sweetener has different properties
Self limiting and no overdoses
Different Artificial sweeteners and Their ADI
Sweetener
ADI (mg/kg
bodyweight)
Aspartame
0-40.0
Sucralose
0-15.0
Acesulfame K
0-15.0
Saccharin
0-5.0
Stevioside
0.4.0
Profile of artificial sweetener consumers
Categor Total no.
of people
y of
consume surveyed
rs
Diabetics
78*
Nonconsumers
-
Overwei
80
29(36.2)
ght
* Consumers
are only
College
280
162(57.8)
considered
girls
Figures in parenthesis
Occasio
nal
consum
ers
6
Regula
r
consum
ers
72
12(15)
39(48.7)
47(16.7)
72(25.7)
are percentages
(Singhal &Pulkit, 2008)
Average daily intake as percentage of ADI
Category
Saccharin
Aspratame
Sucralose
Acesulfame K
Diabetics
16
2.06
1.9
1.6
Overweight
22.4
3.24
2.1
3.09
-
4.7
-
2.48
College
girls
Food poisoning outbreaks in India (1986-2009)
FBD
No.of
outbreaks
Affected
persons
Epidemic dropsy
2
242
Botulism
1
34
Gujarat
Pesticide Poisoning
2
96
Ahmedabad, Delhi
Methaemoglobinaemia
1
86
-
Mycotoxicoses
3
1548
Na2No3
1
22
11
832
Lead poisoning
1
30
Hyderabad
Excess colour in Saunf
1
40
Hyderabad
Phycotoxin
1
132
Mumbai
Rancidity of biscuit
1
125
Hyderabad
Bacterial food poisoning
Place
Delhi
J&K, AP, Karnataka
Hyderabad
Many places
Sudershan etal, British Food Journal 2012
Persons affected due to FBDs
20%
Microbial contamination
Chemical contamination
80%
29
Street foods
Street vending is legally permitted
business
Food security for urban poor
ConcernFood
safety
Food poisoning in midday meal
11.7 crore children
Artificial ripening
32
Oxytocin for Milk let in
Cattle
Standards for Caffeinated beverages
New category maximum caffeine 320ppm
Food Labeling
Essential source of Information for the
consumer to have effective control and choice
on what they eat
Health
Safety
Religious
Ethical
Read label, understand and fallow the
directions.
Changing Profile of Food
Adulteration
Contamination
Developing&Countries
Dangerous Adulteration
Filler Materials
Food contaminants (Chemical)
Developed countries
Food Contaminants (Microbiological)
India
F
y
t
i
l
i
Food Safety is a shared
bresponsibility
i
s
n
o
p
es
r
d
e
r
a
h
s
is
y
t
e
f
a
S
ood
Thank you for your attention