Kashmir: Caught in Food Dilemma
To eat or not to eat!
Javaid Malik
What to eat, what not to eat has become a big debate these days. No food starting, bread to fruits, seems safe. Everyday people come across the advisories declaring one or other food unsafe. Sometimes people are told that certain foods contain carcinogenic chemicals while the fruits and vegetables which they eat regularly are ripened by using chemicals harmful for our health. Would anyone please tell what’s good for health?
There is no doubt about the fact that there has been an alarming rise in the number of cancer cases in Kashmir. Experts claim that sub-standard food being consumed by people is big cause of worry and people should be very choosy about the food they consume.
Just a few months before government imposed a ban on the noodles manufactured by a leading company in India, though the ban was lifted after sometime but people were shocked to know that they were consuming a “dangerous food” on the name of fast food for years together.
There is no harm in creating awareness about the foods which pose danger to human lives but the experts, apart from cautioning, have to suggest the remedies too. At present only warnings are being flashed and no one seems to have any available solution about how to deal with the growing food hazard.
The law enforcing agencies and departments which are responsible for preventing adulteration are in slumber. There seems to be no mechanism at place which can set parameters about the food being safe or unsafe for the human consumption. The departments responsible to check adulteration come up with lame excuses whenever any discrepancy is reported. The officials of these departments usually state that they are understaffed and cannot reach everywhere to check the quality of food items available in the market.
It’s really unfortunate that successive regimes have ignored this burning issue and have not paid attention towards what people are eating and what is being sold in the market.
Senior citizens are of the opinion that despite Kashmiris being not that well-off in fifties and sixties, people used to enjoy pure food. The home grown Haakh used to be so delicious that it used to be the part of meals every day. These days Haakh figures in the menu once in 15-days and many people these days don’t find Haakh tasty anymore. They have become used to frozen foods and other delicacies which travel thousands of miles to reach Kashmir markets. Instead of becoming health conscious people have become status conscious. Eating foreign and packed foods has become a status symbol. The status conscious people don’t realize that they play with their health and end up paying a heavy price. Not only frozen foods but eating imported and foreign fruits too has become a fashion these days. People don’t bother about the fact whether the foreign fruits have been ripened by using chemicals or any other means. For them what matters is the tag foreign attached with these fruits.
Continuous warnings sounded by the experts have created ripples in Kashmir. People have realized that if they don’t change their habits it could prove fatal for them. Despite so much of hue and cry raised about food items sold in the open market are not upto the mark government seems to be sleeping as till date no steps have been taken to check what is being sold in the market on the name of food items.
The need of the hour is to set up special squads which can crackdown on the people who are selling poison in the name of food. Government cannot take up this burning issue lightly anymore. It needs to act before it’s too late. People are caught between the quagmire of uncertainty as they are finding it hard to identify the healthy food.
The market checking teams appear in the market just ahead of festivals and their jobs ends up with issuing big press statements about the “good work” they have done. Instead of these teams appearing occasionally permanent teams should be constituted for different areas so that carcinogenic foods are destroyed before they reach a consumer. People too have to become alert and conscious. If they don’t pay heed towards this dangerous menace the day is not far when hospitals across Kashmir would have no beds available for the sick and ailing patients.
(Javaid Malik is Senior Editor Greater Kashmir and can be reached at malikjavaid123@gmail.com)
