Safety of PET bottles for packing medicines, foods and beverages under cloud-Will the real truth emerge ever?

What do we understand by the oft used word PET when it comes to food packing? Probably common man may have no clue about the chemical nature and the implications underlying its use by the food industry. But there is a general awareness that all plastics are not good when it comes to their use for food contact applications. It is true that plastic materials, mostly made from fossil fuels, have taken over the lives of people in to day's world because of convenience and cost. Glass and metal containers are unbearably costly though they are much more safer than plastics. There are a number of plastic materials varying in their characteristics and functionality and food industry has a wide choice before them for packing foods. Protection from air, moisture and tainting from the environment are the primary concerns when plastics are used as far as the industry is concerned but environmentalists are more worried about the pollution caused by the used plastics which take more than 800 years to be completely degraded in nature. World over restrictions are being placed on use of plastics and make recycling a priority to save the planet. 

Quality and safety requirements of plastics vis-a-vis food contact applications are more or less standardized though there could be small variations in the methodology used to determine their suitability. Safety authorities in developed countries focus on the foods consumed in their countries and tests using model systems reflecting these foods are used to arrive at the permissibility of various packaging materials. However in India there is a sea change in the chemical, physical, biological and sensory characteristics of foods we eat here and therefore the interaction between food and the packaging materials used needs to be assessed by appropriately tailor made tests. The safety aspects of some of the packing materials used for ethnic foods or traditionally consumed foods in this country have not yet been determined conclusively as the authorities concerned is rather slow in tackling this crucial issue with any sense of urgency. The responsibility of the plastic manufacturer ends once a certificate is generated by testing laboratories using standard testing protocols involving simulated solvent systems for acidic, neutral and alkaline foods. What is appalling is that once such a certificate is produced the manufacturer can produce tons and tons of the materials and sell to the food industry without any further overseeing or vigilance from independent authorities. 

The issue of safety of PET bottles for packing pharmaceutical products became a debating one after some concern was raised recently and the government's knee-jerk reaction in setting up a committee to "look" this controversy. Consumers are genuinely concerned about the impact of packing medicines in PET bottles which is becoming a standard practice of the industry which finds it a better packing material compared to glass due to logistical and economic reasons. This has compelled the authorities to arbitrate on this issue. The demand of consumer organizations and environmentalists to ban PET plastics must be based on an assessment of the balance between risk and advantages and scientific data therefore is necessary. The government approved testing laboratory to which this problem was referred, came out with a shocking conclusion that PET bottles are not safe for packing liquid drug formulations because of high levels of leachates passed on to the contents from the container. The controversy became more "controversial" because both drug industry as well as the plastic industry questioned the veracity of the report alleging that too few samples were tested and no important decision should be taken based on the findings of a single laboratory. Probably they may have a valid argument and further testing can be ordered in multiple laboratories controlled by the government on a proprity.     

If we go back to history of this problem it was due to the diligence of an Uttarakhand-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that works in the health sector which raised this issue requesting the ministry of health to impose a ban on the use of PET for pharmaceutical packaging. The present impasse is due to the testing results showing high levels of some chemicals in the products tested. The Government is sitting on the recommendations of a technical group set up to examine this issue which categorically suggested banning of liquid pharmaceutical formulations to be packed in PET bottles and eventually extend this ban to the entire industry. More concerns were expressed with regard to the potential impact of the contaminants leaching out from the bottle on the health of children and other consumers with normal health as well as with weak state of health. There are documentary evidences to support the adverse impact of leachates like Chromium, Antimony, Lead and Diethylhexyl Phthalate at concentrations much beyond the safety limits. According to experts health risks to people can manifest in the form of diseases like cancer, diabetes, endocrine damage kidney damage, reproductive diseases and obesity when these contaminants are present at levels far exceeding the safety standards and this cannot be ignored that easily. calling for emergency measures to tackle this issue once for all.

An interesting argument put forward by the packaging industry is that instead of banning PET blindly, some way should be found to modify the technology of manufacture of this commercially important material to make it safer. A larger question that begs for an answer is why the industry did not take adequate precaution before and was indulging in making and selling a material of doubtful safety credentials? Similarly why it should have been left to an NGO to raise this issue of grave concern where as a responsible and diligent government with enormous powers at its command was sleeping over it all these years with least concern for the health of the 1.3 billion people it is "ruling"? Is it not criminal and shameful? Probably there will be lot of "passing the buck" game when some thing seriously happens due to possible systematic poisoning of its helpless citizens! God forbid such a contingency.

What is perplexing in this entire saga is whether PET bottles and films are safe for packing water, beverage and foods? In India food safety is a portfolio in the domain of the Health Ministry which incidentally also controls the drug industry. Though there are a few reports indicating that PET bottles are safe for packing water, beverages and most food products, there is no clarity as to the minimum thickness of the bottle, impact of long storage and exposure to temperatures prevalent in tropical countries. The same question that has bedevilled the drug industry vis-a-vis use of pet bottles for packing drug formulations does bother the food sector also and there is practically no report of any real time study using any food product packed in such containers. Here again the safety is assumed or presumed based on model systems using standard solvents and solutions which might not really represent any foods we consume in this country. Also to be borne in mind is that in the absence of overseeing of the PET production facilities, food industry has to depend on the unilateral view of the manufacturers that their bottles are food grade. If toxic materials like Chromium, Lead, Antimony and Diethylhexyl phthalate have been found in drug preparations in quantities beyond the permitted levels, there is all the more reason that chemically complex food can leach out much more of them over the duration of their shelf life. It is a million dollar question as to why the Indian government and the research institutions specialized in food, packaging, health and toxicology controlled by it are sleeping over the issue for so long! 

While the issue of safety of pet bottles for packing food and medicines is sill being debated, there is a tug of war between the PET industry and glass industry, both of them having a vested interest in the business generated by the products they make. According to the PET bottle industry more than 200 manufacturing may have to close shop if the Government enforces an across the board ban for food, beverages and pharma products which together account for about Rs 2000 crores market, almost 50% of the total production of 6 lakh tons per annum. In contrast glass bottle industry which was once the prime materials used by both food and pharma industries is witnessing a decline in its growth because of the increasing preference shown for PET bottles. One of the last bastions for glass bottle is the liquor industry which consumes almost 50% of the production estimated at about 3 million tons per annum probably because of the ability of glass to retain the flavor in its original form. Only cheap liquors have switched over to PET bottles in preference to glass because of cost considerations. If banning of PET bottles does materialize there is no option for the industry but to go back to glass bottles. Thus what is a lose to PET industry will be a gain for the glass industry. We will have to wait and see how the situation is going to develop in the next few months. In the mean time glass industry must invest in new technologies that can give glass bottles with lighter weight and extra strength to with stand rigors of handling and transportation . 

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

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

ARTERY CLEANING FOODS-A NEW GIMMICK?

Those who suffer from artery "clogging" due to high cholesterol content in the blood must be excited about the news that it is possible to de-clog the arteries without any medication like Statins. The multi billion dollar Statin industry that thrives on atherosclerosis disease affecting millions of people across the world is soon going to have a competitor with better credentials! Of course one will naturally ask the question as to why people suffer from clogging of arteries which can manifest in myocardial infarction or stroke, if adequate discipline is exercised regarding the diet one consumes. Unfortunately even the best psychologists in the world cannot answer the question because human behavior is not amenable to change easily and food consumption practices are evolved over years, influenced by economic factors and the living environment.

The most manifested symptom of arterial clogging, chest pain, is treated with prescription medicines but invariably the affected person ends up too often under the knife of a cardiac surgeon. As arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle gradually become blocked by plaques of cholesterol, fat, cells, and debris, the heart muscle is starved of oxygen. Drugs that are in the market may reduce the pain temporarily though eventually the patient has to seek surgical remedy. Coronary bypass operation or a plaque - busting angioplasty is necessary to restore blood flow to the heart. The alternative is a heart attack and such bypass operations are becoming routine these days in many affluent countries. The surgical intervention is not considered absolutely safe with some unable to survive the procedure. In about 6 percent of cases, it is known to cause brain damage. Another bitter fact is that it is not a permanent cure with the patient forced to go back to the hospital within six to eight years for a repeat of the surgery to repair the arteries again.

An oft repeated question is whether medical intervention is absolutely necessary to restore the health of the arteries and some believe there are alternative choices. It is now realized that clogging of arteries can be reversed through appropriate foods or supplements now being developed by some health products companies. Foods like garlic, oats, soy products, beans and walnuts seem to have the property to reverse clogging if consumed in optimal quantities regularly. The ability of arteries to clean themselves without the help of medicines, if simple diet and lifestyle changes are adopted, has been amply demonstrated and has been accepted by the medical fraternity. Under the right diet and exercise regimen, blockages in the arteries actually shrink significantly within an year. It was in 1990 that the role of diet in reducing atherosclerosis was brought out unambiguously when subjects with varying degree of atherosclerosis found their arteries getting rid of bad cholesterol on a vegetarian diet regimen compared to those consuming preparations with meat and fish regularly.  

The role of dietary fiber in reducing cholesterol levels in the blood is now well established. Its ability to "wash out" the cholesterol from the GI tract and not allowing it to be reabsorbed across the intestine is recognized. The recommendation to include 25-30 gm of fiber in daily diet has arisen out of the above conviction and dietary fiber has spawned an industry which sells fiber-rich supplements made from different sources. Even many "synthetic" dietary fiber preparations are being marketed though they cannot work as efficiently as natural fibers from whole cereal, pulses, fruits and vegetables. As the evidence about dietary fiber helping to reduce cholesterol has not been established conclusively through human studies of significant scale, any claim to be printed on the label of a food is some what premature. As the control regime on food supplements is not very strong, many manufacturers get away by making such claims to boost business.

The difficulty in accepting the limited evidence is due to the diverse nature of fibers used in different studies and the tendency to generalize the findings. To date FDA of the US had accorded approval to a Tomato extract that was proved to be effective as a blood thinner in place of Aspirin which is not recommended for normally healthy persons due to its adverse effect on gut health and hemoglobin level and its relatively long metabolic life of 20 days. How ever active efforts are on to get a few products cleared for arterial cleaning and one of them made from a Chitin-glucan fraction derived from Aspergillus niger seems to be promising. The human trials currently underway can only confirm its efficacy as an acceptable artery cleaning supplement.

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

FOOD "FRAUD"-THE ANCIENT "MENACE" STILL RAMPANT!

Food fraud is considered to have taken place when a premium food product is substituted by a cheap one or when the label declaration does not truly reflect the quality of product inside. In extreme versions of fraud, the lives of consumers can be at jeopardy due to the poisonous nature of the substitute or adulterant used. This is not an evil confined to any one country or region and ever since the advent of humans in this planet, food fraud has been in vogue, mostly for easy and quick economic gains. World-wide the economic dimension of food fraud is placed at $ 50 billion, though no one is sure about the accuracy of this figure. Probably the value could be for food frauds that take place in rich countries where fraudsters target high value foods for committing this crime.

While 7-10% of all foods are considered fraudulent in western countries the corresponding figure in India is any body's guess. GOI statistics claim that 15% of all samples "picked up" for testing are adulterated but the monitoring agencies at the state level do not have the wherewithal for testing more than a few hundred in a year in a country where 1.2 billion people live. A major difference in India is that fraudsters or "adulterators" do not spare any food for economic gains and are least bothered about the health risks posed by the foods they churn out. High value products like Cheese, Meat, Alcoholic beverages, Cod liver oil etc are favored targets in western countries while simple foods like puffed rice, cooking oils, sugar, coffee, tea, mustard, milk, ice cream, honey, spices, dals, vegetables, asafoetida, ghee and butter etc are frequently adulterated in India.

Monitoring frauds in foods is beset with insurmountable practical problems and ultimately the onus of avoiding such foods falls on the consumer. But how far the consumers in a semi-literate country like India can assume this responsibility remains to be seen. Added to this, the disorganized retailing where most commodities are sold loose (unpacked), consumer has no means of finding out whether they are really genuine. As the menace from this evil acts assumes alarming proportions, technological innovations in detecting such frauds are adding to the armory of the testing agencies which were not available earlier. NMR imaging, use of Radio Isotopes, genetic methods like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA finger printing are new tools that can detect adulteration in many foods though they cost heavily to procure, maintain and operate. May be it is too far fetched to imagine that the current dilapidated understaffed testing labs can ever be able to have such facilities under their roofs. FSSAI, the exalted agency with "authority" to punish fraudsters does not seem to be able to identify adequate culprits because of weak field level monitoring activities and insignificant number of food samples picked up in the market place for testing. Even in a few cases booked, the culprits live out the delays in the judicial system and come out unscathed!

Why pick on the poor FSSAI which any how has no expertise, experience or coherent thoughts on the subject, being a thorough bureaucratic organization when the much hyped FDA of the US or other similar agencies in Europe and developed countries are being hauled up for their "inefficiency" in combating the incidence of food frauds in their countries. Many food frauds have been documented in fruit juice, olive oil, spices, vinegar, wine, spirits and maple syrup, and seafood products. Victims range from the shopper at the local supermarket to multimillion companies of impeccable reputation. True, such deception has been happening since Roman times, though it is becoming the focus of attention now with more products imported under the free trade regime and a tight economy heightening competition. Interestingly organized food industry itself is becoming increasingly critical about the regulators blaming them for not doing enough to combat this social evil because the fraudsters are eating into their business.

Is there no way to face this "safety crisis"? While organized industry can exercise some self control with their brand value at stake, what about those millions of informal sector players in food processing who do not comer under the vigilance umbrella? "Hang them from the nearest pole" policy is easy to advocate but difficult to implement in any decent democratic society, though countries like China or Saudi Arabia may be able to make food fraudsters pay with their lives for the crimes committed by them. In India there is a feeling that punishments for food crimes are extremely small and further the distinction between willful and accidental adulteration in awarding punishment complicates the situation enabling most of the violators get away with a "rap on the knuckle", insufficient to be a deterrent. Compulsory registration of all food manufacturing activities, stringent monitoring of processing and retailed products, strengthening the infrastructure through several fold expansion and modernization, ban on loose vending of any foods, accelerated judicial system and product liability to compensate automatically to consumers affected by fraudulent foods are some of the minimum needs to respect the rights of the citizens to quality and safe foods.

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

FOOD FORTIFICATION PRACTICES-NEED FOR A RELOOK

Advent of synthetic chemistry has led to the founding of a roaring business involving vitamins, minerals, biologically active nutrients and others. Modern industrial society is relying heavily on processed foods which are often fortified with many micro and macro nutrients. Food technology strives to protect foods from the ravages of vectors and extent the supply during all seasons besides providing variety and convenient foods to the the consumers of today. But in that process many natural foods lose part of their nutrient content and depletes its health value. Enrichment and fortification technologies attempt to compensate for such losses and some time making them more nutritive than their unprocessed counterparts.

According FAO-WHO Codex Alimetarius Commission definition, fortification is" the addition of one or more essential nutrients to a food, whether or not it is normally contained in the food for the purpose of preventing or correcting a demonstrated deficiency in the population or specific population groups". Global concern about chronic deficiency of some vitamins, iodine and iron has given an impetus to fortification efforts in many countries to protect their populations. Commonly it is understood that the term 'enrichment' refers to restoration of nutrients lost during processing while fortification involves addition of nutrient to a food which does not contain the particular nutrient in its original form. Industry resorts to nutrient addition as a part of the process to maintain uniformity in the final product. Most cases of fortification pertain to vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, essential amino acids and proteins.

Nutrient supplementation of food finds mention since 400 BC when the Persian physician Melanpus advocated addition of iron filings to wines to increase the potency of soldiers to fight wars. In 1813 addition of iodine to salt was suggested in France. Ever since then, products like margarine (Vit A & D ), Milk ( Vit D), flours ( Vit B1, B2, Niacin and iron) are routinely enriched in many countries. To day a wide range of processed foods come, enriched or fortified with many nutrients as permitted by the food laws that exist in each country. These include iodine in salt, vit A & D in milk and margarine, Vit A in sugar, MSG and tea, iron in infant formulas and cookies, calcium in soy milk and orange juice, omega-3 acids in orange juice, vitamins and minerals in RTE cereals, diet beverages, enteral and parenteral solutions.

Three issues which create some concern amongst the consumers are the bioavailability of nutrients incorporated in the food, their stability during processing, storage and cooking at home and the level of addition of the nutrients. Vitamin C is not stable at pH levels above or below 7 while it is susceptible to air and oxygen besides resulting in 100% loss during cooking. Similarly folic acid is stable only above pH 7, unstable in presence of air and oxygen, heat labile losing 100% during cooking. Vitamin A is unstable at acidic conditions and cooking losses can be as high as 40%. Niacin is lost to the extent of 75% during cooking while Vit B12 is fairly stable with cooking losses being less than 10%. Minerals are generally stable during processing as well as cooking though ferrous compounds can be oxidized to ferric forms in presence of air and oxygen. In India, except for iodine fortification of salt no organized efforts are visible to incorporate nutrients in processed foods though some proprietary products are marketed containing many nutrients.

With a wide range of products fortified with vitamins and minerals, some stray reports highlight over consumption of some of these nutrients which benefits only the pharma industry manufacturing them. There are also apprehensions that some of the vitamins and minerals, when consumed at high levels can pose danger to consumer health. Some of the risks include nerve damage (pyridoxine, folic acid), kidney disorders ( Vit C, Calcium and magnesium), liver problems (Vit A ), heart problems (Vit D, magnesium), cancer (iron) and osteoporosis (Vit D and phosphate). While water soluble vitamins, when ingested in excess get flushed out limiting the risks of over dosing, fat soluble vitamins get concentrated in the body when consumed in excess posing some real danger. However overdosing through food route may not be wide spread though from the economic point of view they are considered sheer waste.

A national policy must be evolved on fortification of foods centered around the health and nutrition status of the population. Nutrients like iodine, iron , calcium and phosphorus, vitamins A,D and E, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids are some of the relevant ones deserving attention and food processing industry must take the lead to produce foods fortified with them. Restoring the nutrients lost during processing should also be made mandatory. Fortification as a general policy needs to be based on calorie concentration in each food so that when a consumer takes 2000 kc he is assured of receiving what is needed only and avoid excess consumption.

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

FOOD AND DISEASES-THE ANACHRONISM

Food is always associated with sensory satisfaction, nutrition and good health. Why any one should think of diseases when food is the subject matter for any consideration is beyond comprehension. The definition of good food is that it should provide all the nutrients in correct proportion to assure normal growth and maintain the health on an even keel. Nature has endowed mankind with a large variety of foods and with the available knowledge about health and nutrition, it is easy to choose a diet most satisfying from both sensory as well as optimum nutritional angles. Diseases come in different forms due to different reasons. While infection is a major cause of many diseases others include genetic factors, food contaminations, environmental pollution, living style and unbalanced/nutrition deficient foods. These causative factors can influence the nature of diseases singly or synergistically resulting in complicated disorders of serious nature. The modern day health ailments in the form of diabetes, CVD, blood pressure, cancers, obesity etc are affecting more and more people and improper food selection and inappropriate eating habits including over eating do contribute to this epidemic. But it is not fair to blame the foods and give them tags like 'disease delaying foods', conveniently branded with the acronym-DDF,as being reported in a recent seminar on food challenges by one of the food pundits. For innovating on jargon, this takes the cake! If coining slogans, without contents is a solution for all the problems afflicting this country, we should have reached the top of the world long ago. It does not dawn on such slogan mongers that if a material is accepted as a food it is considered safe from the point of view of causing any disease if consumed properly. A nutritionist can never concede the point that a properly balanced food would ever cause any disease and therefore it is presumptuous to talk about a particular category of foods which can delay onset of any disease. In fact it is better to classify all good foods that meet with the nutritional standards as 'disease preventing foods'. If any one particular group of foods can be categorized as health protectants, it is the horticultural crops which, taken regularly in adequate quantities, beginning from early childhood can pre-empt many modern day diseases helping to prolong good quality life. Fruits and vegetables play an important role in maintaining good health as they are low in calories, contain no cholesterol, rich in dietary fiber, folates, Vitamins A, E and C besides many phytochemicals with health protecting properties. Similarly many spice crops compliment their function. It is now well established that spices like turmeric, chilli, garlic, onion, fenugreek, cumin, coriander etc possess higher degree of disease preventing properties. Many of them are anti inflammatory, diuretic, laxative, liver protecting, pain relief, digestive, anti dyspeptic, anti flatulent, skin protecting, expectorant, emollient, heart protectants, antispasmodic, carminative and antiseptic. It is no wonder that the affluent countries, after experiencing the onslaught of many health disorders due to modern living styles, are aggressively taking up national campaigns under the slogan "5 a day" exhorting their people to consume fruits and vegetables five servings a day to escape from repercussions of serious health complications in later life. V.H.POTTY http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/

'WINDY' FOODS-NATURE FULLY TAPPED

Water, manure and sun enable man to grow all the food that is needed to survive ever since the onset of human civilization in this planet. It is amazing how, even to day the food production is governed by favorable weather conditions, especially with respect to rains. Even in advanced countries, in spite of high investments on agricultural infrastructure the crop estimates go awry many times because of weather. Recent floods in the mid west regions of USA may significantly reduce the out put estimates of commercial food crops like corn and soybean. Nearer home, rain or drought has commanding role to play on production of every crop grown in the country. While water is a critical input, energy plays some role in water extraction, irrigation, harvesting, transportation, storage and processing. In India many states provide electrical energy from the grid to the farmers free or at heavily subsidized cost to make the agricultural operations more productive and reduce the prices of the produce to make them affordable to the consumers. With increasing cost of fossil fuels, energy costs are running haywire and it is time that such cost escalations are controlled without affecting the food production.

Man has a great capacity to out live crises and best in him comes out when challenges are severe. Present non renewable energy crisis also offers an opportunity to meet the crunch situation with alternate strategies. Organic food movement beginning in early nineties is gaining increasing traction and more than 10% of world agricultural produce is expected to be organic before the end of this decade. Same is true with CO2 emission and its devastating effect on the very survival this planet. It is incumbent upon the comity of nations that constitute the civilization to day to cut down or reduce emissions drastically in the coming years. Fossil fuels constitute the biggest threat to the global environment and progressive reduction in their consumption is a universal goal. India can make significant contributions in this area by drastically curtailing the use of non renewable sources of energy, especially in areas like agriculture, even if this sector is not a major pollution source.

The terminology 'Windy Foods' is used here to cover foods produced predominantly using wind energy which can be tapped easily in India. A subtle change in the policy will enable the farming community to go in for wind energy in a big way in future. It is true that initial capital investment is high for installing wind turbine system and how far it is capable of being scaled down to the level of small farmers is a relevant issue to be considered. Wind energy to day accounts for 1% of world energy which is growing @30%per year,expected to reach 100 giga watts by end of 2008, enough for meeting the needs of 150 million homes. The world potential is estimated to be 235 giga watts on shore and 750 giga watts off shore while another estimate puts it at 72 trillion giga watts. The potential in India is projected at 45 giga watts out of which 8 giga watts have already been tapped, giving the country fourth place globally. Denmark is the pioneer in the area and about 20% of their total energy needs come from wind generators. They also supply state of the art technology and equipment for wind energy turbines, with more than 70% of the currently operating plants in the world originating from this country.

China is reported to have about 60 wind farms with 2000 wind turbines generating 1300 mega watts of energy and a rapid growth to 30 giga watts is being planned. Largest wind farm in the world generates 5 mega watts of energy and one of the most ambitious development programs has just been announced by the Mesa Power Company of Texas owned by the energy czar T Bone Pickens covering an area of 200000 acres of land capable of generating 4 giga watts of energy. About 12000 barrels of crude oil correspond to a 3 mega watt wind generated energy. The cost of wind power is variously estimated to be 2-3 times higher than conventional power but the financial cost due to initial high capital input for land and machinery is the major cost component and unless governments provide financial incentives to off set this disadvantage, there might not be any rush to embrace this clean energy system in many countries.

In India the government has to evolve a policy that will encourage farmers to install wind mills in contiguous areas so that the power so generated can be used by them for their own use without depending on the power grid. It is time integrated farms are set up by the private sector players with wind mills as an inevitable part of the landscape to generate and supply power for different functions as lighting, water extraction, water storage, irrigation, processing and cold stores. Foods coming out of such agricultural complexes can rightly be called windy foods to denote its environment friendly nature. The present policies on SEZs, Food Parks and Mega Parks can include a Wind Food Park component also which can be located in selected areas where both wind power and agri-horticultural resources are available. Even fresh land can be allotted for such parks for integrated farms that will make a qualitative change in the food landscape of the country.

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