GROCERY BAGS-THE IMPONDERABLE DIMENSION

Before the advent of the ubiquitous plastic carry bags, reusable grocery bags were being extensively used and invariably these bags were made of cotton cloth because they were amenable to be folded and washed whenever get dirty. Use of cotton fabric based reusable bags including canvas bags started declining once plastic based soft films and hard baskets made their appearance followed by disposable carry bags. For decades these bags were an integral part of a house hold helpful in ferrying all types materials from the market to the homes. It was only recently that consumers as well as the civic authorities in many areas became aware of the risks and hazards posed by indiscriminate use of plastic bags for carrying practically everything required by a house hold. Plastic bags, especially those made from thin films of micron size, are environmental hazards as they are not biodegradable with a life of more than 800 years. It is a common experience in many urban areas in countries like India to see littered plastic bags strewn all over, choking drains and spreading filth and contamination all around. Though many civic bodies do realize the dangers from plastics, very little is done to tackle this nuisance with any sense of seriousness. Many retailers impose extra charges varying from Rs 2-12 per disposable bag if consumers want them but it is not expected to make any significant impact, There are rules and regulations that exist in some places but their enforcement is practically impossible due to many practical and logistical reasons.

It is against such a background that efforts are being made in many countries to persuade the consumers to revert to the old system of adopting reusable bags.The retail industry also plays its part by encouraging the customers through incentives and other means to bring their own bags instead of opting for disposable plastic bags. Segregation of plastics from the domestic garbage refuse is another step that helps to recycle them into valuable products while increasing use of plastics in road making opens up another avenue for permanent immobilization with no cause for environmental worry. Though paper bags were considered as an alternate option once, their vulnerability to easy tear and moisture absorption and vast requirement of forest resources for manufacture effectively rule them out as a viable option. Probably multi-use plastic baskets and cotton bags may be the ultimate choice if the current predicament vis-a-vis disposable plastic bags is to be overcome.

Once reusable bags are accepted as the inevitable, how far they are safe in terms of cross contamination and other problems need to be assessed thoroughly for evolving guidelines for keeping them clean and hygienic. Though there are not many studies on this aspect of reusable bags used for groceries including fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meat, it is common sense to anticipate such problems if they are not washed frequently. Reusable grocery bags can certainly serve as a breeding ground for dangerous food-borne bacteria and pose a serious risk to public health, if limited scientific studies on the subjects, as brought out recently are taken at their face value. Presence of contaminating microorganisms like E.coli in such bags as found out by these studies raises genuine concern regarding the safety of using uncleaned and dirty bags for taking into retail stores and the consequent dangers to fellow customers and the products on the market shelves. E.coli is a marker organism that signifies the possibility of accompanying pathogenic organisms, capable of causing severe health complications.

In one of the recent surveys in the US it was brought out that 97% of those using multi-use bags never washed their bags and repeatedly use them unmindful of the consequences of build up of contamination over a period of time. Interestingly more than 50% of bags tested carried significant levels of E.coli though presence of any pathogen was not tested. Washing could reduce the bacterial load considerably and prevent their accumulation to reach critical concentration capable of causing food borne infectious diseases. Levels of contamination can be alarmingly high in areas where weather conditions are conducive to fast multiplication of bacteria. Atmospheric temperature and humidity play a critical role in the growth of bacteria and the extent of danger can be high in tropical countries like India where cleaning and detergent washing can only ensure some degree of safety when reusable bags are used. Though there is no definitive proof for presence of disease causing bacteria in theses reusable bags, absence of data cannot be taken to mean that they are absent. An organized and in-depth study in a country like India where conditions are optimal for bacterial growth, can only bring to surface any dangers originating from reusable grocery bags.

Many countries are planning to ban use of carry bags made from non-biodegradable plastic materials fearing large scale environmental and health dangers without thinking about an alternate system that will cause least disruption to the shopping activities of millions of people every day and if reusable bags are the real option massive education of the citizens is required for keeping their bags clean after each shopping trip. If the plastic "culture" is to be shunned slowly, school going children need to be sensitized at an early stage about the undesirable consequences of use of plastics so that they grow up as responsible citizens spreading the message in the society.
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V.H.POTTY

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FOOD CONTAMINATION-PERILS OF "BORDERLESS" TRADE

Modern transportation facilities have enabled the food industry to move foods from from one corner of the earth to the other seamlessly at minimum cost and "universalization of food" is an inevitable "fait accommpli" whether one likes it or not. But such borderless trade can also bring along with many problems associated with safety concerns. The recent mozzarella cheese contamination episode in Europe has brought this issue to the fore. Italians are a worried lot to day after huge quantities of Mozzarella cheese, imported from Germany and distributed in some of the retail outlets in Italy, were recalled from the market suspected of contamination of unknown nature. As this variety of cheese is consumed by majority of the population there and the consumers are wedded to the cheese made from only buffalo milk, any deviation from the standard creates furor and anxiety amongst them. It was not long ago that there was the episode involving large scale "adulteration" of buffalo milk with cow's milk for making mozzarella cheese raising wide scale hue and cry in the country forcing confiscation of those consignments suspected to have contained traces of cow's milk solids.

More than 50% of the cheese made in Italy uses milk supplies coming out side its border and it is difficult to trace the source of contamination if and when it occurs. Dioxin tainted cheese found some time back in the market also caused some discomfort to the safety authorities highlighting the difficult logistics of surveillance in the continent with practically no border restrictions on trade. It is understandable that Italians are touchy about the quality and safety of mozzarella cheese as more than 60% of the population consume this milk product regularly, that too in significant quantities. Though there have been no major out break of food poisoning on account of mozzarella cheese, occasional minor Salmonella contamination episodes are reported but very infrequently. Some of the microbial contaminants found in cheese include Psuedomonas spp, Enterobacter, E.coli, Enterococcus, Klebsiella pneumoniae and some yeasts and molds. Generally the product is traded when it is not less than 5 days old and not more than 15 days old at a temperature of 4-6C.

It is against this context one has to see the latest mozzarella contamination episode which occurred in some parts of Italy According to reports, the food safety authorities in northern Italy seized a batch of 70,000 mozzarella that turned blue once they were removed from their packs, triggering emergency control measures by them. The particular cheese, was imported from Germany for an Italian distribution company that sold it to discount supermarkets in the north of the country. The much vaunted European "rapid alert" system was launched informing all concerned about the the contamination. What is interesting is that it was left to an alert consumer to inform the authorities by sending images from her mobile phone of the soft, white cheese immediately turning blue once it came into contact with air and action was promptly taken to take off the affected cheese from the shelves to prevent any untoward incidence of food poisoning. Though initial assessment indicated it to be bacterial rather than toxic contamination, the incidence has baffled many experts calling for further investigation about the cause. The possibility of the blue color development due to presence of copper, nickel or lead in the milk or the aqueous solution used to preserve the cheese was not ruled out. As no consumer reported falling sick due to consumption of this "blue" cheese, the incidence did not create any serious consumer backlash though more vigilance is being advocated for cross country food trade.

The above piece of news is remarkable viewed from three angles. First it reflects the keen sense of consumer vigilance and responsibility as the abnormality in the cheese was noted first by a consumer who alerted the concerned authorities through a mobile phone where after the decision for recall was taken as a precaution. Second the excellent rapid alert system that operates in the EU for meeting such contingencies. Last, it speaks volume about the commitment to safety by the industry as exemplified by the prompt and voluntary decision by the distributor to recall all the products from the retail shelves with minimum loss of time. All the three stake holders in the safety assurance frame work, consumer, authorities and the industry deserve kudos for their role in tackling this unfortunate incidence with damage to none.

V.H.POTTY
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"BUTTON CELL" HAZARDS-NEED FOR MORE PARENTAL VIGILANCE

Toys are here to stay when it comes to "pleasing" one's kids and keep them away from troubles. Also many toys can be educational medium, though not of any deliberate design, to evoke curiosity amongst children. Especially in many urban settings toys in the form of animals and other real life models provide the first glimpse to children at early stages about the diversity of the universe. Of course with the electronic media and visual images available on the television channels, children can get a much better appreciation of real life situations. Still toys provide companionship and a sense of comfort when they are "owned" by the kids. While safe toys posing no risk to the health or life of the children are the imperative objective of the toy industry, there are have been many instances of children coming harms way through unsafe toys. Battery cells, especially the button type, used to power many electrical and electronic toys, pose the greatest danger, if parental caution is not exercised or insufficient overseeing by adults.

"There has been an increase in the use of "button" style lithium cell batteries in recent years, which are used in manyhousehold productions including remote controls, flashlights, watches, hearing aids, cameras, children's toys and books, and musical greeting cards. There has also been a significant increase in the number of battery ingestions, particularly among children. New research published in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics has found that between 1985 and 2009, there has been a 6.7-fold increase in the percentage of battery ingestions, including 13 deaths involving button batteries that become lodged in the esophagus. Certain battery types, especially the 20-millimeter lithium cell battery, can also cause serious injury if not promptly removed, such as tissue tears, burning, and internal bleeding, because they continue to generate an external current, even when weakened. Toby Litovitz, MD, from the National Capital Poison Center and department of emergency medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, analyzed data from three sources: The National Poison Data System, the National Battery Ingestion Hotline, and the medical literature. Age was a significant predictor of severity of complications. Children younger than 6 years old were involved in 62.5% of the button cell ingestions and 85% of the major effects occurred in children younger than 4.Litovitz also looked at how children and adults obtained the batteries and found that ingested batteries were removed directly from the household products about 62% of the time. The batteries were loose 29% of the time. More than 37% of the 20-millimeter lithium batteries ingested came from remote controls. Children are not the only ones affected. About 36% of the ingested batteries were from hearing aids. In older adults, the batteries were mistaken for pills'".

If sociologists can find fault with foods from the industry for their potential to be choking hazards, toys present much more risk, especially in the form of button cells and small AAA batteries. Of course the toy industry cannot be blamed entirely because these cells are embedded inside the toy body and cannot be removed easily with out adult help. In spite of such built in safety features parents will be better off by restricting access to electronic toys to the duration only during the periods when they can effectively supervise and rest of the time such toys could be stowed away beyond the reach of children. World is going through turbulent times with increasing dangers lurking around from different quarters and button cells should not add to the existing threat perceptions.

V.H.POTTY
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"TARGETING" THE KIDS-FOOD INDUSTRY ON THE "DOCK"

Eating habits inculcated during early years of growth tend to get ingrained in the minds of children, carrying it forward during the rest of their lives. The scientific basis of feeding children with natural foods with minimum sugar, salt and fat till the age of 3 years is built on this concept. Every mother knows the trials and tribulations encountered during the feeding of a baby as every spoonful ingested is a great relief, reducing the anxiety. Though the survival instinct amongst humans may not allow a baby to go hungry for long, such a consolation is difficult to satisfy the feelings of a mother and therefore it is but natural that all mothers deploy all the tricks at their command to "persuade" the baby to take as much food as possible. While feeding bland but nutritious foods may pose many challenges, persisting with them will be rewarding in the long run as the baby has a better chance to grow into a healthy individual with no weakness for foods with high sensory satisfaction and least health credentials.

Childhood obesity is a major concern in some of the wealthy countries because of the exposure of kids to high caloric foods offered by the food processing industry at very low cost. That high caloric foods can be addictive is well known and easier the availability higher will be opportunity to over indulge in these foods with all its undesirable consequences. In spite of stringent labeling regulations which provide valuable information regarding the extent of calories, fat and other health related parameters, consumers are still driven more by the sensory pleasure provided by the food rather than the nutritional credentials. The large serving size, used as standard reference for declaring nutritional/health information tends to mislead the consumer to believe that consuming a part of the pack should not be as dangerous!

Food industry has a social responsibility and a contract with the consumer that the products turned out from its factories do not harm them and many major players do observe constraints in promoting their products through unethical and dubious techniques. But there are many who cross the limit by indulging in unfair promotional practices and unsubstantiated health claims. Safety enforcement agencies have an enormous responsibility in bringing to books such culprits but there are legal and practical constraints that prevent them from achieving ideal results as per the expectations of the consumers. The recent reported use of flavoring substances such as Vanilla in baby foods is an example as to what extent some in the industry will go to capture the market. Probably the idea behind such practices is to hook on the growing children to processed foods, many of them containing vanilla as an ingredient.

Another ploy now being used by the industry is to exploit the affinity many children have for familiar cartoon characters like "the Explorer", "Dora", "Shrek" etc. According to a recent study many children seem to be under the illusion that foods taste better when a familiar cartoon character like Dora or Scooby Doo appears on its packaging. As a corollary to the above observation, it was also discovered that most kids prefer snacks that have the character on it, over cheaper generic packages containing exactly the same food with similar taste profile. Though these findings should come as welcome news to food and beverage companies, which spend astronomical sums each year wooing young consumers, it raises many disturbing questions regarding the consequences of such targeted promotional efforts by the industry. Many scientific organizations and consumer advocacy groups have long argued against such kid-targeted advertising, noting that as the food industry's child marketing budget has surged over the past several decades, so have obesity rates in preschool and primary-school-aged children. How far such use of cartoon characters on product packaging actually influences the eating habits of children is a matter of conjecture in the absence any reliable scientific research in this area.

V.H.POTTY
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RETAIL COMMODITY PACKING-LABELING COMPULSIONS

Labeling provides a means for the consumers to have a better understanding about the nature of contents in a sealed food pack and is an enabling way for the processor or the packer to establish a transparent relationship with his clientele. Though the modern labeling system has come about, not because of any voluntary intention on the part of the industry, abiding by the mandatory stipulations that spell out the responsibility of the processor in letter and spirit is a prerequisite for realizing the objectives of food labeling. Most of the players in the processing sector do comply with the regulations in the statute book but there are many who circumvent the legal provisions by being ambivalent and misleading in the label declaration creating confusion in the minds of the consumers.

Branded products from the established and organized food industry are the most compliant ones when it comes to truthful declaration as the manufacturers of these products have a high stake in protecting their image and reputation. There are many small scale and cottage scale players who are neither aware of the implications of food labeling nor serious about the provisions of labeling because of an "impotent" vigilance system with no "teeth" to punish the violators. The entire blame for such a lax system cannot be placed at the doors of those unable to meet the rigid requirements vis-à-vis labeling as they do not have the wherewithal and the means to understand and appreciate the significance of labeling. How one can expect a small bit player to know about the type of packaging material to be used to give the "best before" date for his product or the type of quality deterioration that can be encountered in his products. Governments at the center and the state levels have failed in their responsibility to educate this category of processors about their role in protecting the consumer from quality and safety related defaults.

Another category of packers in the food sector who fail to understand the importance of labeling is the commodity dealers who sell food grains like cereals, millets, pulses, oil seeds etc in gunny bags for bulk supply and in small retail packs in improvised packing modes to consumers. There is practically no information on theses packs regarding the variety of grains packed or the chemical, physical and nutritional characteristics of the contents, though legally they are supposed to provide such information under the prevalent regulations. How else a consumer will know about the type of rice he is buying, its age and cooking characteristics and nutritional details? Thanks to the dramatic growth of Basmati rice exports during the last one decade, branding is slowly being tried where the particular variety is prominently mentioned for recognition by the consumer. There are at least a dozen varieties of rice in the market and the names continuously change from time to time depending what arrives at the market from the growing regions.

The rice marketing is further complicated by the varying characteristics of processed rice grains like boiled, parboiled, steamed, cured and aged, pasty or grainy during cooking. How far any attempt to bring an order into this trade can succeed is uncertain as there are neither bench mark scientific standards nor dependable quality testing infrastructure, available for the purpose. In some of the predominant rice eating countries like Taiwanese China, rice dealers are required to declare the varieties packed by law and violations are not condoned reflecting the importance attached to this legal provision to safeguard the consumer interest. Recent introduction of some rice varieties claiming low glycaemic index or high fiber in the Indian market does not make any sense as such claims are unilateral not supported by evidence. GOI's erstwhile Paddy Processing Research Center at Thiruvayur, TN was dedicated to rice research till it was rechristened as Agricultural Crop Processing Technology Institute, diluting its focus. This Center should have been entrusted with the task of evolving chemical and physical standards for different varieties of rice marketed in the country. Unfortunately the various Agri Varsities dolling out degrees in hundreds, do not seem to be too much concerned about the chaos that prevails in rice industry. Food Standards and Safety Authority of India has no time for such "mundane" aspects of food quality as it is busy with its own "agenda" of "grand standing" and "self glorification"!

V.H.POTTY
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CAFFEINE "EFFECT"-SOME NEW FINDINGS

Coffee fans will have to pause and think whether their level of consumption of this famous beverage day in and day out can bring them any harm in the light of recent reports from a group of food scientists from the down under. If the recommendations from these pundits are taken seriously, coffee consumption may have to be severely curtailed by those who are known coffee-addicts. For a typical South Indian family drinking coffee at least 2-4 times a day is a must and often such attachment to coffee has been described as addiction. May studies have brought out the fact those who consume coffee do not experience any withdrawal symptoms though craving for a cup of coffee can be experienced when it is not available readily.

The undesirable constituent in coffee that has been blamed for all the ill-effects attributed to it is caffeine. Caffeine is easily metabolized by the human liver using the hepatic microsomal enzymatic system, the metabolic end products being harmless. It is true that a typical cola beverage may contain much less caffeine compared to a cup of coffee. While a cup of coffee prepared using a brew by percolation may contain up to 135 mg of caffeine, drip brew derived coffee can have higher levels of caffeine, up to 175 mg per cup.

Coffee also contains some diterpene compounds like Kahweol and Cafestol which have been implicated in cardiovascular disease through their role in increasing the LDL concentration in blood. But coffee brew made with paper filter does not contain these harmful chemicals while metal filters allow them to pass through into the brew. In India good coffee beverage is made in metal filters but no data is available regarding the fate of these diterpenes when hot water is used for percolation.

The latest scare comes from New Zealand when the food authorities have sent out a warning to their citizens cautioning them against consuming coffee in high doses. According to the agency caffeine contained in coffee can cause irritability, anxiety, tremors, dizziness and insomnia. More alarming is the assertion that some people may experience short-term anxiety effects by consuming more than 3 mg of caffeine/kg body weight/day. This means that an adult should not drink more than two standard cups a day and for most healthy adults, up to 400mg of caffeine in total in a day. In case of children and old age population, with decreased liver function, the effect could be worse though reliable data is yet to emerge.

V.H.POTTY
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CAMPCO FOLLOWS AMUL'S FOOT STEPS-INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

India is not a major producer of cocoa beans and the credit for what ever little quantity the country is producing to day goes to Cadbury India which provided the impetus for cocoa cultivation and bean extraction in early nineteen seventies. Of course the chocolate giant had its own compulsions in getting into indigenous cocoa production because of increased domestic demand for chocolate products in the country. High costs of imported cocoa beans and import restrictions prevalent those days provided the necessary spark for the indigenization effort.

The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd, better known as CAMPCO was set up in July 1973 as an interstate procurement organization for Kerala and Karnataka and provided price support to the arecanut growers in this region suffering from market turbulence due to low demand and non-remunerative prices. Subsequently cocoa was added when the cocoa growers, encouraged to start cultivation with assurance of purchase by Cadbury India, also suffered market slump, looking to government for socour and support. It was in 1986 CAMPCO established its state of the art Chocolate factory in Puttur, for processing cocoa beans into different value added products. Though it had to encounter plenty of problems in terms of capacity utilization because of the dominance of the market leader Cadburys, to day it stands tall amongst the chocolate manufacturers in the country, emulating AMUL the milk cooperative giant which also has chocolate plants in Gujarat. If AMUL supported the cause of milk producers, CAMPCO provided support and stability to the scattered cocoa growers in the South.

The achievements of CAMPCO reached its pinnacle recently when it recorded a production of 11000 tons of products based on cocoa, generating a revenue of Rs 1250 million last year. The technology, facilities, personnel and the management system followed by CAMPCO are second to none as exemplified by the recognition it received in the form the coveted ISO 22000 certification for "preparation, storage and dispatch" of cocoa based products. The range of products made by the plant includes various chocolate products, hard boiled sugar confectionery products, instant beverages, chocolate chips etc. Probably this sterling recognition puts it on par with the reputed Amul cooperative which pioneered the milk cooperative movement in Gujarat making the milk producer stand tall and proud. The cocoa growers were left high and dry when there was market collapse in nineteen eighties and it was CAMPCO which stepped in to save the growers from ruin through procurement, paying remunerative prices. It augurs well for the country that CAMPCO is foraying into Goa and Assam to transplant its rich experience to the farmers there. Also laudable are their the plans to enter the rubber sector with the same noble objective of protecting the interests of the growers.

Though cocoa production in India is insignificant compared to that in Ivory Coast and Ghana which together account for 60% of world production, more than 50% of domestic demand for cocoa beans is met by indigenous production of about 11000 tons harvested from 17000 hectares. The present procurement price of Rs 48 per kg of wet beans is considered highly remunerative and CAMPCO has been able to pass on the benefits of increasing global price to its farmer members. If such a price is maintained for some time, cocoa cultivation is bound to expand dramatically in the coming years. The health tag being given to chocolates for its high antioxidant properties is driving the demand for chocolate significantly and CAMPCO is all set to exploit this trend for the benefit of its members. The expected certification by ISO 14000 and OHSAS 18000 will further boost its stature nationally as well as internationally. CAMPCO, standing shoulder to shoulder with AMUL are shining examples of efficient and profitable cooperative players when many of the public sector industry guzzling billions of rupees from the exchequer are on the brink of bankruptcy.

V.H.POTTY
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"MEDDLING" WITH TASTE BUDS-IS THERE A NEED?

Man can go to any extent to satisfy his cravings for good tasting food that will ensure maximum sensory pleasure. Use of various food additives like colors, texturizers, flavor enhancers, stabilizers, etc is a direct response to the customer preferences discerned by the industry from time to time. While one cannot deny the consumer such a basic instinct-driven need, what is lost in the bargain is the tendency of the product developers to load processed foods with many chemicals of questionable safety. Of course safety is a relative term and if one has to live in the modern world, some degree of compromise and adjustment may be inevitable.

Taste is the most important criterion that influences the decision whether the food should pass into the GI tract from the oral cavity as there is still a chance of spitting out those with undesirable or unacceptable taste. The role of color, aroma and texture is secondary that influence future buying decision. Foods invariably becomes more acceptable when appropriate levels of salt or sugar or spices or fat are incorporated but bitterness and sourness are notes not liked by many though there is a large clientele with liking for moderate sourness taste.

Human tongue has over 10000 taste buds, each with a diameter of an hair strand and each taste bud is equipped with 50-150 taste cells. Taste cells have specialized receptors for saltiness, sweetness, sourness and bitterness. Bitterness is generally linked to substances with some toxic potential and therefore nature has endowed the tongue with more than 25 different types of receptors for recognizing thousands of bitter substances, unlike those specialized in sensing other taste notes. These taste buds are supposed to equip human beings to avoid many food materials that may be poisonous during the early years of evolution.

Bitterness cannot be avoided, especially in medicines and synthetic sweeteners and flavor industry is continuously looking for substances that can mask the bitter note for better acceptability of the products. Such a chemical is reported to have been discovered by a major flavor developer which will bind most of the "bio-receptors" on the tongue to effectively prevent bitter molecules from attaching to these specialized buds. It is truly a remarkable endeavor involving screening of thousands of substances using specialized techniques to identify one single compound which was found effective.

How far this discovery will have any impact on food industry is not certain considering that there are very few popular foods with any bitter note. But the diet food industry cutting down on sugar levels in foods and beverages, often using synthetic sweeteners like Aspartame find it difficult to mask the bitter after taste noticeable in such foods. Similarly Grapefruit juice with high levels of Naringin exhibits bitter taste which needs complex treatment process to debitter the product. Such products, far and few, may be the candidates for the new bitterness blocking compound. Pharmaceutical industry may be a major beneficiary as many medicines are bitter to taste affecting their acceptability, especially to kids.

Carrying this research further, there is need to simulate tastes like saltiness and sweetness with suitably architectured chemical substances which will enable the industry to cut down use of salt and sugar very significantly. Such a development will be of great value to the human beings of to day tottering on the verge of a major health disaster due to over consumption of high sugar and high salt products. The development and availability of many fat sparing food aids has shown the direction in which dramatic progress will have to be made.

V.H.POTTY
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HDL CHOLESTEROL-NEED NOT BE GOOD ALWAYS?

Cholesterol, a natural body constituent in humans has attracted highest attention during the last 3 decades mainly because of its established linkage to heart related diseases. Man's knowledge about cholesterol has progressed from establishing a higher limit for total cholesterol a few years ago to the optimum levels for High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), Very Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (VLDL), total Cholesterol to HDL-C ratio etc that is desirable to maintain cardiac health. HDL-C is one of the five groups of lipoproteins designed to transport cholesterol and triglycerides within the predominantly water based blood stream and is considered the most significant in protecting heart by carrying cholesterol away from atheroma within arteries and transport it back to the liver for excretion or re-utilization.

HDL-C promoted as good cholesterol amongst the layman is supposed to protect humans against cardiovascular diseases while LDL-C and VLDL-C are considered villains as far as heart health is concerned. According to the present understanding HDL-C at levels below 40 mg/dL in blood can increase the risk of coronary vascular disease (CVD) significantly amongst normal population. HDL-C has also a role in delivering cholesterol to adrenals, ovaries and testes for the synthesis of steroid hormones. HDL-C carries many lipid and protein species which even at low concentrations are biologically very active. HDL-C and its protein and lipid constituents are also believed to be helpful for inhibiting oxidation at cellular level, inflammation, activation of the endothelium, coagulation and platelet aggregation. The common perception at present is that humans should have optimum HDL-C levels about 60 mg/dL in blood or higher but not less than 40 mg/dL for reducing the risk of CVD.

Amongst the means of increasing HDL-C in the blood include aerobic exercises for 20-30 min, losing weight to desired BMI, cessation of smoking and alcohol consumption, avoiding saturated and trans fats in the diet, consumption of mono saturated fatty acids, increased intake of soluble fiber in the diet by including oats, fruits and vegetable, legumes etc and omega-3 fatty acids from fish. As a general guideline restricting the intake of calories from fat through the diet to a broad range of 25 to 35 % is considered a healthy practice. The value for the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL-C should not be more than 5:1.5 for a normal healthy adult and obviously higher the HDL-C or lower the total cholesterol better would be the ratio.

In a recent startling study it was brought out that high HDL-C need not be a heart health indicator amongst some female population, though these findings were confined to Danish women. On the contrary high HDL-C could be a cause for ischemic heart disease causing chest pain, heart attack and even death. This group displayed high levels of C-reactive proteins (CRP) which is known as an inflammation marker. Genetic changes that can result in deficiency of the vital enzyme Cholesteryl Ester transfer Protein (CETP) involved in transfer of cholesteryl ester from HDL-C to triglyceride rich lipoproteins can lead to accumulation of cholesterol in the arteries causing ischemic heart conditions. Though the study was confined to Danish women, a wider investigation across the world only can reveal what percentage of women have this genetic deficiency. The blind recommendation about HDL-C requires moderation in the light of the above findings.

V.H.POTTY
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SAFETY OF MSG IN FOODS-NEW FINDINGS AND THEIR IMPLICATION

In their mad rush to have the eyes, ears and minds of innocent consumers, food processing industry is known to practice the art of "dressing up" their products and score against each other. The fact that in doing so they are compromising the quality of life of their customers by using many chemical additives, some approved and others under the GRAS list, is not realized. Mono Sodium Glutamate, popularly known as MSG is one such chemical approved for use in many countries, though there are some restrictions in its use in some products. Why one needs flavor enhancers, if good quality raw materials are used in the food preparation is beyond any body's comprehension. New studies throw more light on the repercussions of MSG use, especially amongst children.

To day thousands of products churned out by the food industry in Europe, the US, Australia, Japan and other advanced countries contain MSG at varying concentrations. The products include snacks, soups, sauces, meats, flavored potato chips and a host of others. Soy sauce which is an integral part of foods in China, Japan and other oriental countries, contains glutamic acid and this has been cited as the basis to deflect any question regarding the safety of MSG by chemical process by the manufacturers. Industry is well aware that though glutamic may be present in free form in many natural foods, it is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, the MSG that has the property of enhancing flavor dramatically because it easily dissolves and ionizes in aqueous phase. The mere presence of glutamic acid in a complex form need not necessarily cause any harm and hence such a stand may not be tenable. What is not made clear is how far the commercially made MSG is pure and what artifacts are generated with any adverse consequences during the manufacturing process.

While adults may have the biological ability to deal with MSG ingested through foods, what bothers concerned scientists is its devastating consequences in children. Unfortunately there are no clear guidelines that bar use of MSG in foods targeted at children though responsible industry players do not use it in such products. While children of 3 years of age and below are not supposed to be taking any foods containing MSG, in practice what prevents them from consuming products flavored with MSG available freely in the market? Is it not a tragedy that knowing pretty well that MSG can be risky, no one is seriously concerned about its ubiquitous presence in practically every food that is consumed to day? Is it absolutely necessary to boost the natural flavor by adding MSG at the expense of human health? Why does a society like that in the US, already over burdened with over-weight and obese people need further incentive to eat in the form flavor enhanced products? These are questions the world has to face one day and it is better to tackle the matter to day rather than leaving it to posterity to suffer the consequences.

It is ironical that a country like the US with most liberal view on MSG use, suffers maximum health damage because of wide scale manufacture and consumption of nutritionally unbalanced and health-wise unsafe foods. Within 10 years of clearing the use of MSG in food in the US, hundreds of studies had emerged showing adverse changes in the body and much data has accumulated as published articles in many reputed medical journals. Several rat studies revealed irreversible destruction of the retina after MSG ingestion. Other studies showed glutamate to be a major excitatory neurotransmitter that causes the inflammation of the nerve or brain cell within 90 seconds of contact and within 3 hours the brain cells were found to be dead. A relatively recent study dramatically brought out that the dendrites of the brain cell and the hypothalamus were being damaged by MSG. Dendrites are the branched projections (like antennas) of the brain cell that conduct the relay of information from brain cell to brain cell. The hypothalamus is critical for both learning and memory and controls the onset of puberty, growth regulation, appetite and sleep cycles. It regulates the pituitary gland which regulates the entire endocrine system. Damage to the hypothalamus has been linked to endocrine disorders and obesity. What an impressive credential for this flavor booster!

Unless the world acts now to ignore industry inspired studies carried out by obliging scientists, proclaiming the safety of MSG and take effective action to ban MSG from all foods, it may have to regret later.

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

"MILLING" TECHNOLOGY-CAUSE OF CHANGING FOOD HABITS

What one eats to day has no resemblance to what people from two generations ago ate and one of the most critical causative factors is the milling technology, an ubiquitous unit operation that has changed the whole world. In chemical engineering parlance, milling simply refers to a unit operation deployed for achieving size reduction but in food processing it has some what different connotation. The terminology like grinding, crushing or milling is used commonly to refer to processing of raw foods into edible ones, though many people have little idea about the subtle difference.

Grinding is a word having 10 different meanings as far as an English speaking person is concerned and these include crushing some thing to small pieces or powder, oppressing or treating extremely harsh, polishing of a surface, making sound by friction, coming to halt with a noise etc. As far as food processing is concerned it is common expression that denotes size reduction to bring a coarse food material, especially dry ones, into powder or flour with varying particle size. Grinders fitted with appropriate sieves can deliver flours with different particle size. In contrast crushing is a general terminology that is used widely for pressing, squeezing hard, to cause creases in the dress materials, to describe defeat and also to convey a sense of overwhelming, intending to subdue, infatuation and making beverages from fruits prepared by pulping.

The word "Milling" originated from the "Mill" that means a building fitted with machinery for grinding grain into flour or a machine that grinds a substance into powder. In course of time it became a common terminology to denote many operations in the organized sector for converting raw products into finish products. Paper mills, cotton mills, textile mills, steel mill etc have very little in common with a flour mill where flour is the end product. In food processing area milling is most commonly referred to a series of operations under dry or wet conditions, the ultimate aim being either dehusking, debranning, splitting or grinding into flour. Wet milling is the most common kitchen operation for preparing batter that is used to make hundreds of traditional preparations. No kitchen is considered complete unless a "mixie" is provided. Industrial milling like cocoa mass preparation, homogenization, ultra grinding, etc is part and parcel of food industry.

What influence milling has had on the health of modern consumers? Can this unit operation be blamed as the sole reason for drastic changes in the eating habits which have taken place during the last hundred years? To some extent, naturalist would say so. Milling is responsible for reducing the dietary fiber in almost all foods consumed to day. Milling removes bran and germs from wheat, bran from dehusked rice and husk from legumes while splitting and almost all processed foods to day are based on these three food grains. During milling and refining significant loss takes place vis-à-vitamins, minerals and many phytonutrients. By making super fine flours the natural role played by the jaws and the dental structure in masticating foods is by passed. Fine particle foods are digested faster creating sudden sugar peaks in the blood not considered desirable. Same applies to fruits also as eating a whole fruit has superior benefits compared to peeled, pulped, refined juices, consumed so commonly to day. The foundation of many of the modern foods is the finely ground flour from corn and other food grains and that many of these foods are responsible for to day's "bloated" society is an irrefutable fact.

Convenience taking precedence over nutrition, modern families may have no choice but to depend on processed foods which saves consider time and efforts leaving them free to do many other pressing daily chores. While search for exciting new foods with different texture, taste and flavor is bound to be part of human life, discretion in deploying milling technology more appropriately can make a difference between good and indifferent quality of life. Milling technology and machinery available to day are so versatile that sufficient flexibility is built into these gadgets to get a products of desired nutritional quality.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

PEPSI TO GO THE COKE'S WAY? RUMBLINGS IN KERALA

It is still fresh in the memory of many about the violence marred closure of Coco Cola's bottling plant at Plachimada in Kerala, the "God's Own" country where "God" seems to be looking the other way when irrational and unjust decisions are taken that defy logic. This multi national beverage company, though not much liked by many, was invited to Kerala and welcomed there with a red carpet to establish its plant providing many incentives and allurement. It made sense that a state like Kerala, notorious for its aggressive labor force, needed respectability by attracting reputed industry like Coca Cola, providing some economic benefits for the local population. But the 2004 closure of the plant, within 4 years of its inauguration in 2000, under some pretext smacked of ideological consideration rather than any substantiative issue. It is another matter that the industry minister of the same state lamented recently that "Kerala is the only state that could not prevent closing of an industry", obviously for wrong reasons.

The controversy surrounding the establishment and closure of the Plachimada bottling plant refuses to die down and in March this year a so called "high power panel" consisting mostly of government bureaucrats put out a "damage" report against the company, recommending recovery of Rs 2162.8 million as compensation to the local population. Strangely some of the panels members were the same bureaucrats who were involved earlier in giving license for setting up the plant! While it may be difficult to come to any impartial conclusion regarding various charges leveled against the company, one thing seems to be certain that none of the charges can stand legal scrutiny and on the other hand any international legal assault by the company against Kerala government may even result in awarding compensation to it from the government! On the social front Coca Cola company could be faulted for not being sensitive to the unforeseen consequences of their drawing half a million liters of water every day from the under ground sources, though more than 65% of it was returned to the ground and for distributing the sludge as fertilizer material.

Kerala government must have been aware that beverage manufacturing is a water intensive operation and this should have been factored into the decision to grant license. The State Pollution Control Board with the necessary mandate should have fore seen the damage that could be caused by the plant waste for insisting on remedial measures before starting the operation. Even after identifying the water and waste disposal problems with the plant a compromise rather than a confrontation would have prevented the closure. Coca Cola company is an international giant with enormous resources and it could have been persuaded to develop the villages around the plant site by deployment of modern technologies for water harvesting and conservation and expanding agricultural activities. Incidentally Palghat district in Kerala had the most rain fall in the state and this might have been one of the considerations for locating the plant here. The accusation that the sludge contained heavy metal contaminants like Chromium, Cadmium, Lead etc is disturbing because beverage making does not involve use of any inputs even remotely connected to these metals. Taking a cue from this, government should have become alert to monitor the presence of these poisonous metals in the ground water which was being consumed by the villagers for ages. This does not seem to have bothered the authorities at all, with their focus only on 'closing" the plant at any cost.

Not wanting to learn a lesson from the past, the CM of the state in an aggressive posture categorically declared recently that another bottling plant belonging to PepsiCo in Pudussery, again in Palghat district, must also be closed because "locals" are against it! What type of a state is this which, after encouraging industry to come, turns against them on some pretext or the other? Is it really due to genuine reason or based on ideological considerations? It is doubtful if the state government would have taken such a stand if the plant was established with Russian or Chinese collaboration, reflecting its animosity to any thing associated with the US. The pretext that the local village council has filed a case against the bottling plant does not carry much weight because the present ruling regime in that Panchayat is controlled by the same political party that rules the state.

Contrast this with the interest generated by the just concluded "Global Investors Meet" (GIM), organized in Karnataka which attracted over 350 entrepreneurs with an investment potential of Rs 4000 billion and opportunity for employment for over 600.000 people. Though Karnataka cannot stand any where near Kerala in terms of literacy, skills and productivity, investors seem to be satisfied that they would get all the support from the government. Even God may not help "God's Own Country", if it cannot help itself by learning from other better performers.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

MILK FROM COW OR SOYBEAN?-PICKING THE WINNER!

Milk, from which ever sources it comes, has been recognized as a food par excellence though those who are vegans probably may disagree with such a conclusion. But when it comes to man-made milk from agricultural ingredients, comparisons are invariably made with milk from cattle and it is unfair to expect that any man-made milk can replace "nature's own milk" in terms of nutrition and healthiness. It is unlikely that milk from cow or buffalo will ever be displaced in the diet of humans, especially children by soy milk or any other artificial milk like product. There are of course some advantages for soy milk because of the high nutrition content of the bean, especially in terms of phyto nutrients and unsaturated fatty acids.

Manufacturers of plant based milk preparations like soy milk have an economic stake in raising doubts about animal milk and the debate that is raging in Europe and the United States, between the advocates of animal milk and soy milk, can at best be termed as ridiculous. It is true that dramatic increase in soy milk consumption is happening in many countries during the last three years and the soy beverage market has been able to move from the confines of natural food stores into the supermarket chains. The double digit growth of soy milk industry in some countries can be the envy of others. The debate appears to be wandering into not so relevant issues like social justice, attitudes toward animals and the environment, the dangers of genetic engineering of soy, use of hormones for acceleration of milk production in cows etc.

"World Milk Day" is being celebrated all over the world and this occasion is used to stress on the importance of milk in human nutrition. Though a significant segment of the population in some countries, especially in the Orient prefer soy milk over animal milk and there are many who cannot consume the latter because of lactose intolerance. Deficiency of the enzyme Lactase causes such intolerance syndrome and soy milk is the only other alternative. Casein based synthetic milk is commercially produced for whitening tea and coffee beverages but casein is a component derived from animal milk.

Activists belonging to the "People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)", a world wide voluntary service organization striving to sensitize human beings about the importance of being considerate to animals have launched a counter campaign appealing people to desist from consuming animal milk. According to them milk is produced by a mother for its off springs and not for others to enjoy and nourish. This may sound outlandish to many sensible people but there is some substance in the arguments of PETA that humans are invariably "inhuman" to animals bordering on persecution. Probably industry dealing with animals for milk, egg or meat must revamp its current handling practices to accommodate and respect the views and sensibilities of animal lovers. The argument by PETA that milk is harmful to humans flies in the face of mountains of well documented scientific studies that milk is the most complete food humans can have. The health afflictions cited as reason for shunning milk are not because of milk per se but due to over indulgence and can happen with any food consumed by man.

Even if plant based milk like products are able to capture the market beyond the current 1% share, it is a question of time before consumers return to animal milk, just like the realization that mother's milk is the best for the infants. The milk production in India which crossed the 100 million ton mark recently offers a valuable lesson to the western countries in that decentralized production through millions of dairy cattle owners is the only answer to all the problems being faced by them as cited above. There is nothing like an integrated agricultural farm with a few milk yielding cattle, be it cows or buffaloes, reared under humane conditions with high personal care, with the dairy industry, whether cooperative or private, providing ready out let to the market for the fluid milk at remunerative prices.Surely a product like soy milk has no chance against such a formidable rival as the cattle milk in a country like India.

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

"FLAVORING" OF CHILDREN'S FOODS-A PREMEDITATED "HOOKING" STRATEGY?

From time immemorial food had a single dimension and that was taste. If a food is good to taste it must be good for the body, so goes the old thinking, till the basic contours of human nutrition emerged during early part of last century. If industry, aiming to get as high returns as possible on their investments on food processing operations, tries to cater to the sensory "weakness" of human beings, it is a natural phenomenon. But to day with massive nutrition data available it becomes the primary responsibility of the manufacturers to ensure that their products do not cause any harm to the consuming public. Ignorance can be condoned at the first instance of a violation of this principle, but deliberately attracting consumers through rich tasting but nutritionally junk foods is nothing short of a crime deserving highest form of punishment possible.

Flavor is a composite term that signifies the cumulative effect of color, aroma, taste and texture. With many artificial and synthetic colorants banned during the last two decades, only a very few are left with that can be used and large scale shift from synthetic to natural colorants is perceptible to day amongst the processors. Of course natural colorants are costlier to use and have much less tintorial power than their synthetic counter parts. One of the earliest cases of banning synthetic colorants was in tomato ketchup and it is a tribute to the industry that suitable varieties with intense red color were developed soon. To day no manufacturer uses external color in ketchup. Though consumers do have a weakness for bright colored food products which are associated with quality, once the health risks involved are known they can be weaned away by sincere industry efforts. When it comes to children attraction to color generally develops after the age of 12-18 months and why industry wants to make products for them with bright color is not clear. Probably the mothers may be the target as they are the ones making buying decisions! But there must emerge a consensus that no artificial or natural external colors must be used in the manufacture of foods for children below the age of 3 years.

As for aroma, it is doubtful whether children can distinguish between various smell but aroma may become crucial if nutritionally good food smells bad for some reason. Here again there is the danger that some of the aromatic substances can be allergic to them unless proved otherwise. There is a theory that aromatic substances like vanilla or some of the essential oils can be helpful in making the food designed with balanced nutrition acceptable and relishing. Before arguing out such a rationale, one must remember how children were fed before the advent of externally added aroma notes and a disciplined parent should be able to feed their kids foods as natural as possible.

Coming to texture children will be able to chew only after the development of their molar teeth and until such time they have to be fed with mashed or strained foods with a few microns sized particles for them to swallow and chew. Texture probably will play a role after the age of 3 years and crisp products with quick yielding texture are enjoyed by them. If products like potato chips, extruded snacks, biscuits etc are popular with the kids it is because of the crunchy texture. Chocolate confectionery are much sought after not because of their texture but the high degree of sweetness experienced in the oral cavity.

Taste is the most critical sensory trait that can influences the response of a child to any food and it is here parents must exercise maximum precaution. It may be easier to feed a child if the food is sweetened but continuous feeding of sugar sweetened foods can be habit forming especially during early childhood. Same is true with salt and fat. Highly salted and fat-rich products, introduced during early childhood can have far reaching impact on the food habits of children when they grow up and therefore must be moderated. Taking a liberal stance vis-à-vis providing unbalanced foods for the sake of convenience of feeding problem children can end up in disaster with the children becoming right candidates for all the food induced health disorders seen to day.

It is a tragedy of epic proportion to see some of the manufacturers of toddler formula resorting to use of natural and artificial flavors targeted at children in the age group 12-36 months, Their logic seems to be that such flavor addition "enables" parents to make the food easily acceptable to their kids who get the required nutrition through such flavored foods. Dispassionate observers see in such attempts a clear strategy viz hooking the children to processed foods at very early stage in life and thus become their permanent clientele for the life time. Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG), once considered innocuous has been forbidden for use in children's foods because of its debilitating effect on brain development. No one is sure whether some of the processing aids like colors and flavoring agents incorporated in toddler's formula could have dangerous consequences in future as they grow.

If WHO is promoting breast feeding, even up to 2 years, assuring that the child can get most of its nutritional requirements from milk, where is the necessity for specially flavored infant and toddler's food for normal growth and development. It is time that a universal consensus is evolved not to meddle with foods that are targeted to children under the age of 3 years and necessary guidelines are evolved for the industry to make only natural and balanced foods keeping in view the nutritional needs of children of different ages.

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

CHALLENGE OF THE "JACK"-MILES TO GO!

A recent report in some news papers regarding the "original" work done in a University on processing of Jack fruit, the "largest tree borne fruit on earth", can evoke only some amusement because the researchers there have "developed" a series of mouth watering products from this fruit. These include srikhand, kulfi, wine and jam. Considering that Jack fruit has a history of 6000 years behind it, one can only wonder why no one had thought about making these products so far, leaving the task to a bunch of students in a University. The fruit growing as large as 35 kg in weight is a veritable bundle of sweetness and highly aromatic flavor, bordering on repugnance, liked or hated, depending on the people who consume them. The three main varieties that grow widely in different parts of the world vary mainly in the texture of the fruit bulb, hard to soft and pulpy.

Being a fruit rich in sugar the deseeded fruit bulbs can be converted into more than two dozen products at home though commercially only canned bulbs are made in very limited quantities, that too for export markets. While unripe fruits are consumed as a vegetable and for frying into chips like products popular in Kerala, ripe fruits, mostly available during March-August every year, coinciding with monsoon rains, are consumed fresh without any processing. It is a common sight to see road side vendors offering dressed bulbs on push carts in many cities in the South. Traditionally the fruit bulbs, after cutting into small pieces, are used to make a variety of preparations at home. The fruit bar made from the ripe Jack by sun drying, mostly in southern part of Karnataka, is an established product with good shelf life, being liked by many with its typical texture and mild flavor. A new product made by vacuum frying of semi ripe bulbs has been introduced recently and has found wide acceptance in the market.

There is no known orchard cultivating this fruit under controlled growing conditions as very little data is available on favorable inputs that can ensure maximum productivity. As it takes about 30 years for the tree to mature, Jack fruit never offers itself as an alternative to any of the existing economic crops. It is a tree that requires once in a life time investment, that too one's time to plant it and rest is taken care of by nature. High investment on Jack fruit is fraught with uncertainties in terms of yield, perishability, demand and marketing. Organizing cooperatives is also difficult because of these reasons.

Two biggest challenges in harnessing the goodness of Jack fruit for commercial operation are lack of standardization of fruit quality and logistical problems in extracting the edible portion under large scale processing. As only 25% yield can be expected, the waste generated also will pose problems of disposal. Most critical constraint is the presence of gummy latex in the whole fruit which can pose tremendous challenge for food engineers to design an appropriate gadget for extracting the edible part for achieving viable production volume under factory conditions. In one way it is better if mechanical gadgets are not invented because that can be a strength in a country like India where human resources are supposed to be available in plenty. Successful cooperative models for beedi making or papad manufacture, can be replicated to collect, process and make marketable products from Jack fruit for which initiative has to come from horticulture departments of some of the Southern states where the fruit is available in abundance.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

DEMOCRACY AT "WORK"-THE KARNATAKA STYLE!

Under a democratic system of governance, "people"are supposed to be the center of attention and what ever is done by those in power are supposed to be for the benefit of the same people whom they are representing. When government does not fulfill the aspirations of the people what option one can have, though the ballot box is supposed to punish those who forfeit their confidence. But this can only be a theoretical remedy as there is a great bon homie amongst various political parties when it comes to power sharing and exploitation of the citizens. If all politicians and every political party behave against the interest of the citizen, what relevance the democracy "mantra" has in this country?

With coalition "dharma" being blamed for non-performance by governments at the center as well as at the state levels, what hope the country has for future and what type of life the coming generation will have under such deteriorating situation? It is a tragedy that the so called "aam admi", a euphoric reference to common man has no where to go to vent out his frustration and seek solutions to the mounting day to day problems that cause continuous deterioration in quality of life. On paper one has many options to approach many layers of government departments, agencies, institutions, commissions, committees etc, manned by rigid bureaucracy which rarely work unless adequately "greased". The snail paced judiciary is no solace for redressal of any grievances. No wonder such a situation is creating violent groups like "Maoists" or Naxalites which attract many people who are denied the "fruits of progress" for one reason or the other. A substantial segment of population in the country believe that violence in places like AP, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and Karnataka is a direct out come of neglect of poor people by the governments, local, state as well as the center. But violence, what ever be the reasons, cannot be condoned and is not known to solve any problem in this Universe.

Take the instance of Karnataka where massive floods in October 2009 in North Karnataka rendered thousands of families homeless. Though all the attention was focused on the area during the aftermath of the floods for a few days and sky high promises were made to rehabilitate the victims within a few months, nothing tangible seems to have happened at the ground level. Government and many private business conglomerates made tall promises to build new houses for rehabilitation. One of the local mining groups even announced spending Rs 500 crore to build 50000 houses "without help" from the government! According to recent reports the progress of construction in the 14 districts of North Karnataka is less than 1% in spite of a donor commitment for building 73000 houses! Ultimately it turns out that the reason for such tardy progress was government it self which could not provide land for locating the proposed houses! Imagine the mental condition of the families affected by the natural calamity being pushed to the corner by the unfulfilled promises which ended up as only as "boasts, lies and false promises".

In another instance of blatant exhibition of money power, the mining barons of North Karnataka continued to transport iron ore in thousands of trucks every day, over loaded to the extent of 100% of the laden capacity, through high ways to Mangalore port which is in a pitiable condition since last two years because the roads were designed for trucks with only 10 tons capacity. This is in spite of the ban promulgated by the district administration on such transportation to prevent collapse of the road system between Bangalore and Mangalore. Millions of commuters who use this vital link road can only curse the government for the hell they have to go through while plying on this so called high way. The lame excuse of the bureaucracy is that they are "understaffed" to check such gross violations happening under their very nose!

Other states are not far behind in their casual attitude and callousness to the citizens and one can cite hundreds of such unfulfilled promises which remain on paper. Scams and mismanagement of the affairs of the country are order of the day and there is very little hope that things will improve in the foreseeable future. In the food front the traders and middlemen seem to have a field day with food inflation, artificially created, touching 20% recently with no solution in sight. Farmers, the backbone of this agriculturally predominant country are being continuously squeezed between middle men, contractors, traders, processing industry and the retailers. No wonder the present ruling coalition rates Naxalites as the biggest threat to the security of the country because they know the ranks of those dissatisfied and frustrated are going to swell in the coming years due to the inability of the government to address their problems. Nothing short of a radical constitutional change that will end the uncertainties associated with the current political system, can usher in a new era of transparency, dedication, commitment and accountability. What India needs is not the moribund democracy as seen to day but a "meritocracy" which gives merit and competence the highest priority

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com