Couple of days back I saw a clip by SUN TV News at 7 pm about the side effects of Junk food, both local and international..
The clip was about the high consumption rate of the junk food and the health hazards they pose to Health.
Of late consumption of Health food is on the rise.
I am providing a Link towards the end of the post on the Statistics.
In the TV Clip I was horrified to see a piece of chips/Kurkure( the image was deliberately blurred, I am surprised as to why should Media feel shy of showing the Brand name if its facts are right!), when lit b ya Match stick burned.
It was explained that the Junk food by MNCs contain harmful products including Plastic.
And they also contain high level of Salt, which is injurious to Heart in particular and health in general.
I checked up the web.
I found that there is truth in the accusation.
There is a very high level of Salt in these products.
There was an article in the Times of India on this some time back,and it quoted CSE report on Junk food.
”
Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Science and Environment, has alleged that leading food manufacturers are guilty of “large scale misbranding and misinformation” by claiming that their food contained zero trans-fats even though tests showed that they have heavy doses of it.
Most popular “junk foods contain very high levels of trans-fats, salts and sugar – which inevitably lead to severe ill health and diseases like obesity anddiabetes,” the CSE said on Friday. It released the results of laboratory tests carried out on 16 major food brands that the young particularly like, such as Maggi and Top Ramen noodles, MacDonald’s foods, KFC’s fried chicken and Haldiram’s Aloo Bhujia. These findings were disputed by the manufacturers.(TOI)”…
”
Twenty three (n=23) junk food samples comprising – Potato Chips (4), Indian Snacks (2) , Instant
noodles (2), Carbonated drinks (2), Burgers (6), Pizza (3), Fries (3) and fried Chicken (1) were
purchased from different outlets and analyzed in duplicate. Twenty three (n=23) samples were tested
for Salt, Total Carbohydrate, Total fats and Trans fats. One sample (Lays, American Style Cream &
Onion Flavour) was only tested for fats and trans fats. AOAC methodology was used and results are
provided in Annexure II.
Salt: The National Institute of Nutrition(NIN) 2010 dietary guidelines recommend restricted salt
consumption and reducing salt intake to the minimum. The NIN recommends that the daily intake of
salt be reduced to 6 g per person per day. WHO reccommends 5 g per person per day.
Salt Content in the 22 junk food samples in g per 100 g of sample was in the range 0.2 to 4.2. The
highest salt content was found in Instant noodles; Maggi Masala 4.2 g and Top ramen Noodles 3.2 g.
Salt content in Potato Chips was 1.2-3.5 g per 100 g. Average salt content in vegetarian burgers (3)
was 1.7 g and in non-vegetarian burgers (3) 1.5 g per 100 g. Average salt content in Pizza (3) was 1.0
g; in fries (3) 0.4 g and and fried chicken (1) was 0.9 g per 100 g ( see Figure 1).”..(CSE Report)
”
Conclusions
The results of the study indicate that junk food contain high levels of sugars, salt and trans fats. High
levels of trans fats are a public health concern due to its assiciation with Chronic heart diseases. The
trans fat content was highest in French fries (8.1% of total fat) followed by instant noodles (4.6% of
total fat) and potato chips (4.5% of total fat). There should be regulations to reduce trans fats in junk
foods and it’s should be properly labeled. 16
Similarly, high intake of salt is associated with hypertension. The salt content was highest in Instant
noodles (3.7 g per 100 g of sample). Consumption of a packet of instant noodles, therefore, will cover
about half of the daily salt quota. Salt content was not given by companies on the label. There should
an all India action plan to reduce salt in diets and junk food companies should be asked to label salt
quantity of their package.
The provision of nutritional information is currently not a legal requirement unless a claim is made.
None of the takeaway foods like pizzas burgers, fries,and potato chips provide nutritional information
on the product packs. The absence of nutritional data per/100g makes comparisons between products
difficult. There should be mandatory labeling, at least for serving size , trans fats, saturated fats,
sugars and salt along with already mandatory labeling nutritional information for all processed foods
including takeaway foods.(CSE India)”
The reply by the manufacturer to these allegations are,
”
But CSE found that Top Ramen Super Noodles (Masala) which claims to have no trans-fats actually contains 0.7 gram of it per 100 gram. Similarly, Haldiram’s Aloo Bhujia says it has no trans fats, but the study found 2.5 gram per 100 gram. PepsiCo‘s Lays (Snack Smart) was sold till February 2012 through huge advertisements to say that these chips are healthy because they have zero trans fats, but every 100 grams of it has 3.7 grams of trans fats.
The companies strongly refuted the allegations in the CSE report. Pepsico said, “All products manufactured by PepsiCo in India are fully compliant with all the regulations, including those on labelling, prescribed by the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India).” It said that its products under the Lays, Uncle Chips, Kurkure and Cheetos brands are trans-fat free.
Nestle in its response said, “We respect the work being done by organizations like CSE to improve consumers’ understanding of healthy and balanced diets. Maggi is intended as a light meal and can safely be consumed as part of diversified balanced diet.” McDonald’s said, “In India we take a lot of effort to ensure our food is safe for our customers and have stringent quality processes at every stage. At McDonald’s stores we use RBD Palmolein oil which is naturally trans-fat free.”(TOI)
The companies blandly state that they can be consumed safely.
When you use the term ‘safely’, we know that there is an element of risk associated with it.
It is better to avoid these products altogether.
Report by Hoax or Fact.
‘However, the story is a hoax. Kurkure is an evening snack that is manufactured using edible ingredients like rice meal, corn meal, gram meal, salt, spices, seasonings, etc., and is not dangerous for health. These are in fact the common ingredients in Indian kitchens as well.
Kurkure does melt when you burn it, but again most of the salty snacks do the same. It burns because it contains carbohydrates. The plastic like substance that you see in kurkure is nothing but starch. The shiny plastic like look of kurkure is that of dried starch, which is not dangerous for health. It is the same thing that you can see over starched cotton shirts, or on rice cookers after the water dries on the side of the vessel. Also, there is no mention of such story in times of India.
Kurkure does not contain plastic, the company officials explained the same. They believe that the hoax message should have been started by someone who does not like the brand.
Sources:
http://www.hoaxorfact.com/Health/plastic-in-kurkure.html
http://www.cseindia.org/userfiles/Nutritional_Analysis_Junk_Food.pdf
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-31/india/31265892_1_trans-fats-trans-fats-gram
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