Obsession with "freshness" in foods-Unjustified loss of foods is the result!

Is it not strange that a vast majority of consumers will go to any extent to access to the so called "fresh foods"? What do they get by relentlessly pursuing the "fresh" mantra, some times paying prices much higher than that for processed foods? Can it be an obsession that is passed on from generation to generation because of the low population in olden days, lack of processing technologies and plenty of foods available within easy reach ensuring easy availability of ever fresh foods? Or this is nothing but the eating disorder fancifully known as "Orthorexia nervosa" when people over obsessed with pure food lose interest in eating altogether? Other wise how can we explain the obsession of many people with freshly obtained milk from the cow or buffalo, to be milked right in front of them at the farm, ignoring ready availability of dairy milk nearby? This is all the more puzzling because this fresh milk is brought home to be boiled for a long time before use! Same is true with fruits, vegetables and lot of other foods. This syndrome is visible while buying packed foods also with consumers looking closely at the manufacturing date before buying, ignoring those with older manufacturing date! 

Most interesting is the case of vegetables and it is a usual sight to see house wives buying the same from road side vendors believing they are fresh and taking home to promptly over cook them destroying its texture and flavor. After all when these vegetables are used to make dishes the major taste and flavor come from the spices and other adjuncts used rather than that of the vegetables used! Probably people are not aware that to day's technological prowess enables food industry to deliver fruits and vegetables in prime conditions as they resort to cold storage, cold display, controlled atmosphere packs etc and super market can supply fresh produce which can be much superior to that offered by the road side vendor. Usually vegetable vendors get their supplies from the local Mandis where farmers bring them without any preharvest and post harvest precautions, leaving them wilted and "exhausted"! Why is that frozen food industry in India is not able to prosper during the last 2 decades? Frozen food industry is more or less confined to ice cream products with a few ready to "heat and eat" products and the frozen food space occupied in a typical market is practically insignificant compared to the space occupied by main stream products. This industry is paying the price for Indian consumers' obsession with fresh foods or despising of "old" foods!   

The density of refrigerators in the Indian households is fairly high and some of the brands of refrigerators available in the market can rival any foreign markets across the world. Still there are innumerable families not using them for keeping the foods overnight for consumption next day if they can afford. With microwave ovens also gaining foothold in India, habits are changing and many nuclear families do store foods for use later in conjunction with microwave heating. Some of the Indian foods like cooked rice and preparations based on rice are not amenable to storage beyond a certain time and such stored products are difficult to be made tasty " again" in spite of microwave heating. Same is true with wheat based products like roti, bread, uppuma, semia etc. It is a question of compromising a little bit vis-a-vis the eating quality of recooked cold stored foods which the younger generation is learning to live with. Does it portend a change in perception over the next few years? If so the food industry can look forward to better days.

The preference for or obsession with fresh foods, whatever one may call it, is not unique to Indians. According to a recent report emanating from the Gulf countries, it seems tens of thousands of liters of milk, and huge volumes of bread and other perishable food products are being thrown away in countries like Abu Dhabi and Dubai every day because of consumers' attitude towards foods which are not fresh according to their perception. .A large number of people in the UAE are so obsessed about freshness of food that they refuse to buy products dated a day or two before the date of purchase, albeit the products being safe to consume and being well within the shelf life. Out of about 8 lakh liters of milk marketed in UAE every day about 16-32 thousand liters are reported to be wasted because of the tendency on the part of the buyers, probably most of them Indian immigrants, to reject the products processed earlier, with 2-3 days still remaining for expiration. These consumers, who hardly know the implication of their attitude, are paving the way for good food products going waste running to millions of dollars in value. It is least realized by the consumers that In the long run, this can also boomerang on them with hike in prices for the wasted categories of food products becoming a reality. Imagine thousands of liters of precious milk of good quality being dumped in the drains every day in these countries because of consumer weariness in accepting the reality that freshness need not always be associated with quality and good health!  

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

EMPOWERMENT OF CONSUMERS-A NEW INITIATIVE IN DUBAI

Food industry world over might have been emboldened by the relatively inefficient law enforcement mechanisms put in place in most countries which leaves the citizen clueless regarding what he is buying or eating! It is true that front of the pack labeling rules followed in many countries give the consumer some elbow room to pick and choose what he wants though the veracity of information provided is suspect in many cases. In countries like India where most traders follow their own rule that once the customer buys some thing and takes them home, no complaint will be entertained regarding the quality of the products bought. Consumer has no way to prove that a particular product was purchased from a particular shop as most traders do not give authentic receipt to support any claim against the sellers. 

The retail market in the US is a shining example of trust between the consumer and the supermarket as there are special "returns" counters in most places to take back goods already sold if the quality is not satisfactory or the customer is not satisfied. Probably the retail marketing system there may be providing adequate cushion or margins to meet the financial loss due to returns received every day. Still it is a commendable system that should be considered as most consumer friendly. There are well laid down guidelines that stipulate the period within which the product must be returned and other logistical conditions. 

In a country like India such a system may never be implemented because of the limited role of organized retailing which is estimated at about 10% of the total market. imagine the chaos that is prevalent here when more than 7 million retail shops owned and operated by families or single entrepreneurs have been working for ages catering to different localities and most of them have earned the confidence of customers by their trust worthy service. The street corner trader even takes back defective goods and returns the money so that he continues to enjoy the confidence of his customers. What he does with the returned goods is any body's guess! What is amazing is that appearance of multinational retailing giants has not made any dent on this unorganized business sector so far and if economic analysts are to be believed none of the organized sector players are any where near the break even point still. 

Food adulteration is considered rampant in China, India and many emerging economies where wheels of justice move agonizingly slow in booking the culprits, most of whom get away with barely a rap on their knuckles! Of course China has an authoritarian regime which hands out severe punishment summarily but there also food adulteration is the rule rather than an exception, probably supported, albeit secretly by some of the powerful players in the ruling group. India has a unique food safety administering regime which is practically toothless with no machinery to enforce its own regulations! Most of the regional governments do not seem to have high priority for food quality and safety and it is an irony that the federal food safety agency depends on their machinery to implement the national laws! What can the citizen expect from such a situation! An average Indian can only pray that the food he buys is edible and free from unhealthy adulterants! 

It is against such a background one has to to appreciate the bold program being taken up by a tiny city like Dubai which is experimenting with a 'Smart City' initiative to protect its citizens from those indulging in the dangerous game of making and selling non-standard and unsafe foods. The program is expected to provide better connectivity between the law administrators and the citizens in identifying food culprits where ever they are operating within the municipality. As per the newly developed GIS based smartphone application, any consumer can report violation of food quality and safety norms to the authorities on the spot as soon as it is detected. When this system is fully implemented it is expected to be a boon as they will be able to help the authorities in real-time through their mobile phones by identifying the exact market location on an interactive map. The authorities further expect that the citizens can share their experience when shopping for food items and with provisions for capturing photo images and sending the same the enforcement agency can book those selling expired or rotten food items. Such complaints get registered automatically into the authority's case management system. Based on such real time information authorities can dispatch suitable inspection forces quickly to take punitive action.

It will be interesting to watch the experience of Dubai municipality in its new endeavor and if successful can be a model to other urban areas around the world. Though the population in India with smart phone facility may not be much, even a few enlightened citizens with interest to protect the nation from the criminal activities of food fraudsters may act as an effective deterrent in the market place.  

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