GOUT AND THE FOOD-RETURN OF VITAMIN C 'MEGA DOSE' THERAPY

It was Linus Pauling who first came out with the idea of using mega doses of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) to overcome the common cold and the pharmaceutical industry made a fortune capitalizing on this unproven concept during sixties and seventies. Even to day many believe that high intake of Vitamin C can give protection against cold and related ailments. With more knowledge emerging regarding the role citrus Bioflavonoids play in giving resistance against cold, combination of Vitamin C and Citrus Bioflavonoids is prescribed by many physicians.

The new role for Vitamin C in alleviating Gout symptoms and even to prevent development of Gout disease seems to be reviving the same therapy that was popular against Cold. Over 5 million people are affected by Gout disease across the world for which no effective treatment is readily available in Allopathic medicinal system though many claims are made regarding its successful management in Ayurvedic and Homeopathic systems. Probeniced and Sulfinpyrazone are routinely prescribed to treat persistent cases of this disease. Gout is one of the most painful forms of Arthritis manifesting in intense pain at the joint of the big toe to begin with and subsequently spreading to ankles, heels, insteps, knees, elbows, hips, thumbs or fingers. The causative factor for the precipitation of Gout syndrome is Uric acid, a by-product of nucleotide metabolism that is prevalent at the cellular level. Too much accumulation of Uric acid in blood can lead to formation of sharp and tiny Urate crystals and their deposition in connective tissues and around the joints causing inflammation and pain. Normally Uric acid levels in blood can be in the range of 2 mg to 20 mg per deciliter and beyond 7 mg/dL hyperuricemia condition develops as it is not soluble at this concentration and beyond. However, 95% of the population having hyperuricemia condition do not develop Gout and may not experience Gout attack any time in their life time for which clear reasons are not yet known.

According to some experts Uric acid accumulation is associated with heart disease (CVD) and hyperuricemic subjects are 2.5 times more likely to die due to CVD. The rationale behind such a link is yet to be explored. The fact that Gout affects people over 30 years of age, overweight persons, frequent consumers of alcoholic and sweetened beverages, regular eaters of red meat, internal organs, yeast, poultry or sea food may explain the association of Uric acid with CVD. The connection between diet and hyperuricemia is rather tenuous because more than two thirds of purines, the precursor of Uric acid in the body come from metabolic reactions and only one third is contributed by the food that is consumed. This is similar to cholesterol which again is made in the body with contribution from the diet often being not very substantial.

Regular consumption of Vitamin C, at levels higher than 500 mg a day has proved to be beneficial in containing Gout symptoms. Between 250 mg and 499 mg of Vitamin C intake per day the relative risk (RR) of developing Gout is reduced to 0.97, 500 mg to 999 mg/ day lowers the RR to 0.83, 1000 t0 1499 mg/day brings down the RR to 0.66 and above 1500 mg the RR is just 0.55. With every 500 mg increase of Vitamin C intake the risk of getting Gout is reduced by 17% but consumption beyond 2000 mg a day is not advisable due to many reasons. This vitamin has been shown to reduce Uric acid levels in the blood significantly by several studies. As a strategy those suffering from hyperuricemia will be better off to avoid foods rich in purines such as Anchovies, Beer, Caviar, Goose meat, Partridge meat and Mushrooms. Medium purine containing foods like Asparagus, Beet, Pork, Meats, Cauliflower etc should also be avoided when Gout symptoms appear. Vitamin C rich foods like citrus fruits can help. As Vitamin C is acidic in nature, the high daily doses that can bring relief must be taken in 2-3 portions to avoid hyper acidity problems.

How does Vitamin C manage to obviate the Gout conditions is not yet clear though there are some surmises to explain its beneficial role. Kidney stones formed due to Calcium Oxalate build up is known to be dissolved by mega doses of Vitamin C up to 4 gm a day and this has been attributed to acidification of urine which favors dissolution of Oxalate crystals. Probably same may hold good for Gout also but this needs confirmation by further clinical studies. The role of Vitamin C in the synthesis of Collagen protein that gives shape to connective tissues is well recognized and since Gout affects connective tissues, high doses of Vitamin C may be providing quick healing to the damaged tissues.

While mega dose therapy using Vitamin C against Gout is a subject matter of focus amongst many health experts, Coffee consumption has been linked to significant reduction of Uric acid levels and many believe that regular consumers of this beverage rarely develop symptoms of Gout in their life. There appears to be connection between lower C-peptide levels in coffee drinkers which is a marker for insulin levels in the body. Strong association between insulin resistance and elevated Uric acid levels further points to the role of coffee in lowering the Uric acid levels. Coffee also contains chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant par excellence which is known to inhibit glucose absorption in the GI tract. Further studies are required to confirm the mechanism by which coffee protects against Gout.

Food scientists need to come up with plant based foods and edible materials, consumption of which can help reducing build up of Uric acid in the blood through the food route, enabling Gout affected patients lead a normal stress-free life through modified diets of proven efficacy.

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

GRAIN MAUNDS, BUTTER MOUNTAINS AND WINE LAKES!

 

The world is sharply divided into two camps, "the haves and the have nots" because of historical economic factors. Industrialized countries with natural, economic and technological resources have been able to amass fortunes that enabled them to pamper to their populations with the very best in all spheres of life. In contrast poor countries, most of them coming out of the yolks of colonialism in the last century, can boast of only the starving populations for whom hunger and poverty are the only options. 75% of world's ultra poor people live in the African continent with less than 50 cents a day income that can hardly buy any thing to day. Mal distribution of wealth is a serious issue that confronts the world which defies any simple solution. Top 10% of the world owns 84% of the wealth while bottom half barely holds 1%. Food prices continue to climb in many poor countries while they are going down in affluent countries due to the on-going economic melt down which is ironical.

 

European Union (EU), a conglomerate of super rich nations, is finding it hard to satisfy their farmers because of lower demand for produce and the consequent rapidly sliding prices for them in the market place. It was as recent as in 2007 that EU congratulated itself for eliminating the large surplus of foods purchased and stored in the past with tax payers' money, mainly through exports to third world countries where increased demands emerged due to droughts and better economic conditions. For the records, it must be remembered that EU bought butter to the tune of 1.23 million tons from their producers creating the euphorically called 'butter mountains' which were disposed off by 2007. But the trend reversed sharply in late 2008 when economic recession depressed the domestic demand while farmers continued to produce with no let up. During 2008-09, EU is budgeting to buy from the farmers about 30000 tons of butter alone while similar schemes are being worked out for other dairy products. While global prices for butter has plummeted from Euros 3000 per ton in 2007 to less than Euros 1500 per ton in early 2009, the farm subsidy program is gearing itself to offer to them a minimum price of Euros 2299 per ton. EU is also planning to buy 1.09 lakh tons of non-fat milk powder @ Euros1698 per ton, much higher than what open market can offer. Already EU is stuck with 1,17, 810 tons of cereals, 41,422 tons of sugar and 2.3 million hectoliters of wine bought under its Euros 50 billion agricultural subsidy plan. Third world countries must wake up to the reality that these cereal mounds, butter mountains, skim milk powder stacks and wine lakes are likely to be dumped at low prices threatening the very existence of their domestic producers,

 

Similar picture emerges in USA also where more than $ 1 billion worth of non-fat milk powder were bought by the government in 3 years up to 2002 in an effort to prop up milk prices which saw a slump during this period. The 1.3 billion gallons of milk that went in making the powder came from 6.35 lakh cows over a period of one year and was sufficient to meet the needs of its population for 16 months. The powder was kept in a series of man-made caves near Kansas City, Mo and other private ware houses across that country. Though the 1996 Freedom To Farmer Law was supposed to have terminated the controversial subsidy system, it resurfaced again in 2002, continuing till to day.  Thanks to this, US exports of dairy products increased from $ 1 billion in 2003 to $ 4 billion in 2008, the milk powder export alone showing a six-fold increase during the period. Government offered 90 cents a pound then and to day it is giving 80 cents a pound to buy about 111.6 million tons of powder worth $ 91 millions with tax payer's money as the fluid milk price slumped from $20 per 100 pounds last year to $ 14 to day. To cap it the government spends $ 25 million an year to warehouse the dairy products bought from their farmers. It is ironical that the non-fat milk powder after three years, if not exported, will be sold at very low prices to animal feed manufacturers while millions of children in the third world are starving to death for want of food!.  
 

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

COW, CHICKEN AND PIG-WHAT IS COMMON?

Animal foods like beef, chicken and pork meat are consumed world over by more than 70% of the population and their supply chain has an important bearing on the safety of the marketed products derived from them. As they are rich sources of protein, fat and other nutrients, mankind seems to be over dependent on them as a source of healthy food. During the last hundred years, production technology for raising these animals has undergone revolutionary changes, with safety upper most in the minds of the industry. Beef consumption is a taboo for certain population while pork products are shunned by another group due to religious sentiments. Chicken meat how ever is universally liked and consumed practically in all regions of the world.

Raising of beef cattle in large farms with tightly controlled living conditions and designer feed application, more or less controls the end quality of the product with uncompromising safety. Same is true with pigs and chickens by the organized meat industry. Only in developing countries one can come across scattered rural settings where meat animals are raised at the house hold level with each having a few animals. How ever organized poultry farms have become conspicuous now in many developing countries with large farms with birds as high as 100000 in a single farm becoming common. Same is true with pig farms though they are still very small by international standards.

The animal food industry had to face serious challenges ever since mad cow disease was reported first in UK and then in USA and even to day American beef is banned in some countries due to fear of the disease which was not affecting human beings in any significant way. Same is true with bird flu or avian flu which became a serious threat during the last two years necessitating culling of millions of birds in several producing countries across the world. Here again the avian flu virus, being an animal virus could not cross the animal-human barrier and did not cause any damage in human beings. Controlling the flu was necessary to prevent total collapse of the poultry industry rather than protecting human life.The most recent Swine Flu originating from Mexico is reported to have already killed more than two dozen people there and caused a couple of deaths in USA besides making hundreds of people sick in 24 countries though not much is known about the virus that is responsible for the episode.

Influenza A/H1N1 Virus which is being described as a combination of Avian, Swine and Human Influenza Virus is responsible for the new epidemic and since it has spread to more than two regions, WHO was forced to raise the alert level to 5 in their scale of 6, indicating the seriousness of this infection to become pandemic. Any Influenza pandemic occurs when a new Virus appears against which human population has no immunity and H1N1 Swine Flu virus is indeed a new strain having pandemic potential. A pandemic can cause up to 7.4 million deaths world-wide. Since 1900 world has seen 3 pandemic episodes which include Spanish Flu of 1918-19 when 40% of world population became ill killing about 40 million people. The 1957 Asian Flu caused by H2N2 Virus resulted in 2 million deaths while the 1968 Hongkong Flu accounted for 33,800 deaths. In 1976 a pandemic was avoided because of massive vaccination efforts and in 1997 and 1999 Avian Flu was promptly controlled with minimum death of only 6 people. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 also was effectively controlled but the world realized that Virus could jump the "animal to human" barrier that has serious repercussions. Fortunately these Virus strains did not undergo sufficient mutation to sustain "human to human" infection on any significant scale.

While any Virus epidemic is a serious health concern to all countries in the world because of the ease with which it can spread across national frontiers with millions of people traveling every day, what is disturbing is the illogical knee-jerk reaction by some countries in banning the meat products from countries where the Virus originated. It took several years and billions of dollars of losses to put the beef industry back after the mad cow disease. Same is true with Avian Flu also when millions of birds had to be culled and many countries slapped ban on import of chicken meat from the affected regions. Now comes the so called Swine Flu and same logic is being invoked to ban import of of pork from Mexico and USA by countries like China, Indonesia and a few others in spite of the fact that processed meat, having undergone thermal processing adequate enough to destroy all living organisms including Virus, cannot be a source of infection. With billions of dollars of investment, any industry will feel the heat when irrational considerations affect their business and can even be considered as a disguised "Technical Barrier to Trade" (TBT) which calls for immediate intervention by WTO in the interest of a seamless global trade.

Cow, Chicken and Pig seem to be sharing the common concern that their utility to mankind is severely affected, for no fault of theirs, by the virus epidemic, vising them periodically in spite of the best attention bestowed on them by their benefactors!

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

CARBON DIOXIDE-A FRIENDLY 'FOE'

Carbon dioxide(CO2), one of the naturally occurring gases in the atmosphere, is blamed by the environmentalists for the dreaded global warming phenomenon being faced by the modern world. It is true that CO2 is omnipotent because all living creatures inhale oxygen and exhale CO2 every second without which life is not possible. Plants absorb CO2 during day time to fix solar energy and synthesise starch using chlorophyll pigments present in green leaves. Normally atmospheric air contains 21% Oxygen, 0.038% Carbon Dioxide and 78% Nitrogen. Major sources of CO2 emission are fossil fuels which are burned to generate energy for driving modern civilization. Kyoto Protocol on green house gases calls on all countries to reduce these emissions in order to save the world from disaster due to uncontrollable and undesirable weather changes. Viewed from this angle CO2 is indeed a villain but branding this gas as such ignores the beneficial role it plays in many spheres of life to day.

The omnipotent fire extinguisher that is a part of to day's civil infrastructure is based on the principle that CO2 is a fire retardant and the soda-acid fire extinguishers generate CO2 that can be directed at the fire. As a refrigerant, dry ice or solid CO2 has no parallel as it is a clean refrigerant leaving no residue once sublimed. The temperature of pure dry ice is minus 109.8F which can be further lowered by mixing powdered dry ice with ether or acetone to minus 220F. CO2 is one of the raw materials in the manufacture of the most popular fertilizer Urea. CO2 under pressure is also widely used as a cleansing agent in many industries.

Food industry owes a lot to CO2 for its diverse portfolio of products. Most common use, as a common man can see, is in the manufacture of aerated drinks where the fizz is provided by this gas. CO2 under pressure and at low temperatures dissolves in aqueous phase lowering the pH and providing an atmosphere that inhibits almost all living contaminants in the product. Technologies like Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP), Controlled Atmosphere Storage (CAS), Equilibrium Modified Atmosphere Packing (eMAP), Modified Atmosphere/Modified Humidity Packing (MA/MH) owe their strength to the presence of CO2 in the gas mixture that protects commodities under ambient as well as reduced temperature conditions. CO2 at just 80% cause hypercarbia while Nitrogen beyond 98% concentration leads to hypoxia conditions, both inimical to most living things including microorganisms. CAS was being used since 1930 for transportation of fruits over long distances while MAP became prominent in 1970 for Bacon and Fish transport. To day MAP is widely used for distributing products like red meat, sea food, minimally processed fruits and vegetables, cheese, pasta, bakery goods, poultry, cooked and cured products, ready meats and dried foods. It is estimated that 25-40% of all fresh produce harvested does not reach the consumer table due to spoilage and emergence of the above technologies helps to reduce the waste to the minimum where CO2 plays a very significant role.

While meat and fish require very low gas permeability films or high barrier packing materials as they are non-respiring in nature, fruits and vegetables, being actively respiring and transpiring, call for use of films with certain permeability characteristics to allow for diffusion of O2 and CO2 for establishing equilibrium. They need O2 for respiration and emit CO2 as a by-product. Build up of too much CO2 can adversely affect the sensory quality of the product packed and that calls for its diffusion out of the pack. Depletion of O2 is also to be avoided and there fore O2 entry into such packs at desired rate is also necessary. There are excellent packaging materials available to day thanks to the innovative efforts of the packaging industry, meeting every need of the food packers. Both gas flushing and compensated vacuum methods are deployed in packing foods under MAP system. O2 levels of 3-5%, CO2 levels of 10% and rest N2 can be effective for packing fruits and vegetables. CO2 at concentrations of 10% or less is considered most effective in killing all microbes and pests. Grains stored under CO2 can stay in good shape for more than 5 years.

CO2 is a by-product of alcohol fermentation and is available in plenty, waiting to be harnessed for use by the food industry. In baking industry CO2 is an essential tool to impart the desired texture to the baked products. Baking powder, based on sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid or calcium hydrogen phosphate which generates CO2 on heating is an integral part of the bakery industry and millions of kitchens around the world. The loaf volume, texture and other qualities of the bread are imparted by CO2 generated by yeast under aerobic conditions. The Super Critical CO2 Fluid Extraction Technology (SCFE), the high end process developed some time back has enabled the industry to obtain concentrated and purified products from flavor bearing materials like spices, herbs and aromatic plants. The decaffeinated coffee is made to day mostly by the SCFE technology which does not affect adversely the delicate flavor constituents present in coffee, unlike the solvent extraction technology and Caffeine is obtained as a valuable by-product.

Since the world is fighting against uncontrolled build up of CO2 to protect the environment, it is certainly an adversary but considering the diverse beneficial uses it has in the day day to day lives of people, CO2 is also a friendly partner that sustains the human civilization.

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

THE 70C ALARM!

Man consumes water and water based drinks to meet the demand from the body for maintaining homeostatic balance. Some are consumed cold, some at ambient temperature and others in hot or warm state. While cool drinks are more popular during summer, warm/hot drinks are preferred in winter or rainy days. Juices, beverages, soft drinks, buttermilk, sweetened yogurts and flavored milk are consumed at 4-10C while tea, coffee, milk, cocoa, malted drinks, etc are enjoyed better when taken hot. In a startling report a group of scientists have raised an alarm regarding taking beverages like tea at high temperatures beyond 70 degree Celsius (158 F). According to them, drinking hot tea poses risk of oesophagus cancer and recommends waiting for 10 minutes after the preparation before drinking. Oesophagus is the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach and is susceptible to cancer due to many reasons, most common being drinking of alcohol and use of tobacco, causing more than half a million deaths a year in the world. The vulnerability to this type of cancer increases several fold if the socio-economic conditions are poor, consumption of fruits and vegetables is not practiced and irregular habits of brushing the teeth. But no link has so far been established between the temperature of the food consumed and oesophagus cancer. The new findings implicating hot black tea in cancer raises disturbing questions regarding the eating and drinking practices and their impact on health.

According to the above findings drinking black tea hot was associated with twice the risk of oesophagus cancer while drinking very hot tea raised the risk level eight-fold. Likewise drinking tea within 2 minutes after preparing raised the risk five-fold as compared to drinking the same tea after 4 minutes. Conventionally any beverage at a temperature of less than 149 F is considered warm, at 158 F as hot and beyond 158 F as very hot. It is hard to believe that temperature of the drink can make such a difference considering the in-built safety provided by the inability of the oral cavity to tolerate high temperatures. Many consume tea at a much lesser temperatures and this is especially true with green tea and black tea beverages which are prepared by dropping the tea leaves into hot water followed by straining. In some cases tea is 'cooked' in boiling water for a few minutes, strained and consumed with or without sugar. More over sipping action and roiling the liquid in the mouth for some time before gulping naturally will bring down the temperature significantly. Also to be remembered is that drinking coffee or tea is never done in a jiffy as it provides relaxation when one sits own for the drink and the slow process of sipping does not permit the drinking temperature to go high beyond the danger level at any time. It is doubtful whether in all these cases the temperature would go beyond 149 F when the drink passes down the throat. Same applies to coffee also. Whitened tea or coffee is still more safe as addition of milk naturally brings down the temperature to tolerable levels.

The alarm was raised by the scientists based on their finding of wide spread incidence of oesophagus cancer in Golestan Province in Iran where local people traditionally drink very hot tea to which their oral cavity is accustomed. But it is rather naive to assume that hot tea is the only factor that is responsible because the population there are also reported to be socio-economically poor; they do not eat vegetables at all and do not brush their teeth regularly. Probably further studies only can bring out the causative factors that make this cancer prevalent in that region. Such stray reports should not dissuade people drinking coffee and tea regularly to shun their enjoyable habit fearing dangerous consequences. At best one can consider exercising caution while drinking hot beverages in general, to be on the safer side!

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

TUMMY TROUBLES-THE NEW PROVOCATEUR

The intestinal flora in human beings are diverse and billions of microbial cells inhabit the GI tract, most of them beneficial to the host. Over 500 species of microorganisms have been identified and some of them are pathogenic in nature. However the pathogenicity does not find expression under normal conditions due to the overwhelming presence of friendly microbes. Helicobacter pyloris is a classical example of a pathogenic organism that resides in the stomach which can flare up under favorable conditions causing chronic ulcers and other problems. Clostridium difficile, also referred to as CDF or cdf or simply as C.diff is another example of a pathogen that has been found in 2-5% of the population in the world. The enterotoxin, cytotoxin and binary toxin produced by C.difficile can cause severe diarrhea and other complications in the large intestine when the general population of harmless bacteria declines due to repeated use of antibiotics through the oral route or cross infection from patients harboring high population of this bacteria in their body. Old age population, residents of hospitals and nursing homes and people coming in direct contact with infected persons can contract this disease.

Emergence of CDF as a major causative agent in intestine related disorders is of a recent origin. With hardly 1000 case reported 5 years ago, to day more than 50000 incidences involving this pathogen are being recorded, some of them proving to be fatal. Large intestine where there is very little oxygen, is the thriving ground for CDF as it is an anaerobic microorganism. Its proliferation can cause serious ulcers, bleeding from the colon and even perforations of the intestine which can be fatal. There are about 100 variants of CDF and the most virulent is Type 027 which has been detected in most of the infections occurring in recent times. As they are spore forming microbes, their destruction is not easy once they start growing as many normal antibiotics are ineffective against it. Oral administration of special antibiotics like metronidazole, vancomycin, fusidic acid or bacitracin can control the infection to a great extent. Psuedomembranous colitis caused by CDF results in bloating of stomach region, constipation, severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. In India there is no credible report of occurrence of CDF infection, probably due to insufficient diagnostic tools available to detect CDF and all diarrhea being clubbed together under one category.

With indiscriminate use of a wide range of antibiotics, even for minor fever and ailments, CDF infection is likely to rise in the coming years unless some restriction is put in place on supply of these antibiotics with out accurately diagnosing the reason for every ailment. Some hospitals do type out the microbial profile of the faeces to determine the causative agent but this is more an exception than the rule. Though antibiotics sale is covered under physician prescription regulations, the ground reality is that any one in India can get them from small pharmacies without such prescriptions and there is a tendency amongst many citizens to rush to a drug shop rather than an hospital or a physician when ever they have fever and similar symptoms. Administration of freeze dried lactobacillus culture containing live cells, is practiced by many physicians to restore the the intestinal flora every time antibiotics are used to treat serious infections. Consumption of yogurt or butter milk in abundant quantities will also serve the purpose. It is no wonder that yogurt finds a prominent place in almost all lists of "top ten" healthy foods recommended by health experts world over and its regular consumption can preempt infections from pathogens like CDF in the long run.

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

PUBLIC HEALTH, PRIVATE INSPECTORS AND FOOD SAFETY

Food safety issues are attracting world wide attention after the recent spate of serious food infections, even in products never thought to be vulnerable, experienced in western countries. Who could have considered a product like tomato or Jalapeno Pepper or Peanut Butter to be susceptible to Salmonella infection since these pathogens were reported only in fish and meat products earlier? What has gone wrong with the safety regime, touted as most advanced in the world, in the case of tainted peanut butter consignments manufactured by one of the largest processors in USA? Is there a lesson to be learned from these episodes or every thing is swept under the carpet till the next incidence occur. The new President of USA is reported to be planning a thorough overhaul of the present Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set up to infuse more confidence amongst the already scared consumers who had to endure a series of food contamination episodes recently with no clue regarding their origin or seriousness. Recalling a suspected product is fraught with economic and psychological implications which cannot be ignored easily.

As government inspectors get overburdened by the task of guarding food supply, it was found expedient to entrust the job to an array of private auditors under a policy of public-private partnership, placing high faith in the honesty and reliability of these private players. The Peanut Corporation of America plant at Atlanta where peanut products like chopped nuts, paste and butter were manufactured for use in reputed branded products like granola bar, ice cream etc was inspected by private inspectors in March 2008, before the contaminated shipments were dispatched and certified the food facilities of this company as "superior"!. Ironically the food inspectors, paid for by the company, were not even aware that peanut products could ever be affected by Salmonella infection. It was later found that the facilities were housed in dilapidated structures ravaged by Salmonella which cross infected the products made there. The company was shipping the products merrily for 9 months without the safety agencies becoming wiser about the danger posed by the consignments distributed which eventually resulted in 9 deaths and 22500 stricken by the infection. Even score of USDA Inspectors who visited these facilities routinely in connection with supply of peanut butter to the school lunch program being "monitored" by the agency, did not "see" any thing wrong there!

In 2007 a Californian company certified by private agencies as safe had to recall 193 million pounds of beef after an undercover video exposed the malpractices in the processing plant where workers used fork lifts to force sick cows into the slaughter house. The major reason for increased deployment of private inspectors is the cost of inspection to be incurred by the manufacturer. While an FDA inspector will cost $ 8000, same job is done by a private inspector for no more than $ 1000. There are more than 300 private companies employing thousands of personnel finding gainful business in the area of safety inspection of food processing plants in USA. Besides there are hundreds of individual consultants offering the same service. American institute of Baking (AIB International) based in Manhattan, Kansas is reported to have inspected more than 10000 food plants in 80 countries during the year 2008. What is intriguing is how an organization with specialization in baking can have the expertise to certify other plants making products which are not coming under the baking sector and according to some analysts, many plants certified by AIB had quality related problems later, affecting their credibility.

The Indian situation is some what different as there is no worth while inspection system in place under the regulatory regime run by different ministries at Delhi. In some areas like fruit and vegetable processing and meat and fish processing the licensing authorities do have the responsibility to check the plants but in practice such inspection is more conspicuous by its irregular nature. Unfortunately the country is relying more on product analysis mode to book those who make products not meeting with the standards while ignoring the manufacturing environment from where the products emanate. To add to the worry is the perfunctory nature of analysis which does not bring out many safety deficiencies in the products, especially in the microbiological, nutritional and toxicity areas as most of the public health labs have neither the qualified chemists nor the sophisticated instrumentation facilities to make any in-depth analysis of majority of products in the market. There are private agencies offering certification under ISO, HACCP and other quality related systems but their credibility is at a low level because of the ease with which such certification can be obtained in India.

Food Standards and Safety Authority (FSSA), the predominantly bureaucratic organization at Delhi, vested with the "authority" to protect country's food supply, unfortunately has no clue regarding the dimension of the safety problems faced by the Indian consumer who depends more on God to save him rather than the FSSA and its collaborators at the state level. Remarkable immunity of the Indian consumer, absence of product liability system that would have put some fear into the minds of the perpetrators of food adulteration, low value attached to human lives in general and chaotic and unreliable data management system help the government to claim that the country is 'free' from epidemics like Salmonella or Norovirus infections which are being increasingly reported from many developed countries.

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