Does this photos of Indian street food incite delicious memories of your favourite chole kulcha, samosa, bhelpuri, vada pav, and kachori, which have been a huge part of Indian culture? Indulging in these guilty pleasures that have also provided sustenance to a huge part of India’s working class, often comes with funny anecdotes in the form of bizarre news stories or people’s resumes that street food vendors often use to pack the food items.
However, a warning statement has been issued by the food regulating body of India - the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which issued a strict advisory restricting the use of newspapers as food packaging material.
Side Effects Of Packing Food With Newspaper
Citing that using newspapers for wrapping, packing and serving food is a health hazard, G Kamala Vardhana Rao, CEO, FSSAI, strongly urged consumers and food vendors across the country to immediately stop using newspapers for packing, serving and storing food items.
The advisory issued to the commissioners of food safety of all states/UTs informed, “This is a food safety hazard. Wrapping food in newspapers is an unhealthy practice and the consumption of such food is injurious to health, even if the food has been cooked hygienically.”
Shockingly, the advisory stated that Indians are being slowly poisoned as newspapers are widely used as food packaging material by small hotels, vendors and also in homes in place of absorbent paper. “Foods contaminated by newspaper ink raise serious health concerns since the ink contains multiple bioactive materials with known negative health effects,” warned FSSAI.
The thing is, the printing ink used by these newspapers contains toxic colours, pigments, binders, additives, and preservatives. Additionally, it is a hygiene risk as newspapers can not be cleaned and are often procured from junk sellers, so might contain viruses and bacteria that can make you seriously ill.
Newspaper Cause Heavy Metal Poisoning
The advisory further highlighted, “Newspapers and even paper or cardboard boxes made of recycled paper may be contaminated with metallic contaminants, mineral oils and harmful chemicals which can cause digestive problems and also lead to severe toxicity.”
FSSAI labelled older people, teenagers, children and people with compromised vital organs and immune systems as most at risk of acquiring cancer-related health complications due to being exposed to the toxic chemicals of newspapers which seep into the food they are supposed to protect.
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The food regulating body clearly advised, “Newspapers should not be used to wrap, cover, and serve food or to absorb excess oil from fried food. There is an urgent need to discourage the use of newspapers as a food packaging material by creating awareness among businesses, especially unorganised food business operators and consumers on its harmful effects.”
Ending their advisory, the FSSAI issued strict guidelines that suitable steps need to be taken to restrict and control the use of newspapers for packing Indian street food. They also requested the commissioners of Food Safety of all States/UTs to initiate a systematic campaign for generating awareness among all stakeholders to discourage the use of newspapers for packing, serving and storing food items.