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Food Pollution: Another Chain Need to be Broken
What is Food Pollution? Now a days we can notice emergence of more life threatening diseases, like various types of cancer, nervous system problem, hormonal and metabolic problem and other chronic diseases in our era, which were not common in old days. Have we ever seriously thought about these health issues and why they are occurring more frequently and commonly? The answer is ‘food pollution’ or ‘food contamination’. Let’s understand how food is polluted. When the pollution from the environment (soil, sediments, water, and air) reaches into the food web by polluting plants or animals that come in contact with environmental pollution, it is called food pollution. For example, polluted water may enter and accumulate in fish, which may be consumed by birds and other animals and in this way it gets transferred through the food chains until reaches humans. As the polluted meat or fish reaches humans, the pollution may be substantially increased in comparison to the original concentration. Thus, human health faces serious threats at present as well as in future. Such food intoxication can trigger anything from a small discomfort to life-threatening diseases. On average, more than 70 million cases of food-borne illnesses occur in the U.S. every year, resulting in approximately 5,000 deaths per year! Such is the case with India, which is a growing concern for us. Arsenic contamination in drinking water is not new in Bihar but recently, scientists- led research has confirmed the presence of arsenic in food chain in Bihar through irrigation. Now the chemical has found its way into the common eatables like rice, wheat and potato and it is also observed that arsenic content in food items was higher than that in drinking water. Causes of Food Pollution- Basically, any pollutant that comes in contact with food has the potential to pollute it. There are multiple causes of food pollution including:
- growing of food crops in polluted soils, or areas with polluted groundwater
- agricultural treatments with pesticides, insecticides, and/or herbicides
- growing of food in areas with polluted air
- agricultural application of sewage sludge
- use of polluted fertilizers which contain ash from power plants
- consumption of polluted water and/or food by fish or other animals
- food processing, packaging, and handling
- propagation and concentration of pollutants through the food chain
Ways to Eliminate the Threat- If we want to eliminate the future threat that may arise due to food pollution then we should learn from Japan, who has recently found the alternative of less polluted food production. Japan has proposed to grow vegetables and other food crops in factories which would eliminate the unpredictable effect of environmental pollution, unpredictable weather, or pests. The process would be all computerized, controlling various factors affecting growth, which is proposed by the Ozu Corporation in Tokyo. We may follow such type of agriculture practices in India, where we are still growing food on dirty land which is subjected to various food pollutants, pests and unpredictable weather and also proper measures are not to be taken at the time of food packaging. At present our globe is facing two major problems like, pollution in food chain and chain of infection due to COVID19 pandemic but now the time has come to break the chain of infection as well as chain of pollution in food. For the previous one we should follow the Corona guidelines properly and for the later one, all we can do is minimize individual exposure to polluted food by informing ourselves and following the proper measures towards this global issue.
