The adage goes, “your body is what you eat”. All of us agree with that. If we eat healthy food, we will have a healthy body and if we are eating contaminated food, it is only natural that our body and health will be affected badly. Diseases such as Cancer, Stomach ailments etc. are directly related to the water we drink and the food we eat. Our focus, therefore, must be to consume non-contaminated, unadulterated, fresh, clean food.
However, if anyone observe the ‘food chain’, he will realise that food come from far and wide. For e.g; apple from Kashmir and HP takes weeks to reach South India, fish from coastal areas takes days to reach interior India, Processed food take its own time to reach from the factories to consumer. And then there are storage issues. If food viz; fruits, vegetables, meat and fish is stored in an inappropriate manner, it will all start rotting and if such items are bought and consumed, they will bring in the dreadful health challenges such as cancer and organ failure, on the continuous use of the same, for sure. We had heard of businessman using deadly poisonous formaldehyde etc. to keep the fish from decaying while moving it. Yes, they become rich but the consumers of it are guaranteed to suffer huge health issues which also result in financial trouble for families.
Developed nations have well set regulations and processes for transportation and storage of food items. They mandate storage and transportation at specific temperature and atmospheric condition, which varies from food food. These countries are extremely strict on such matters. Not only that, even the retail stores that keep these items to sell are ordered to maintain the atmospheric specifications, failing which huge penalties including imprisonment is slammed on to the seller.
So, the ‘food chain’ needs a ‘cold chain’ for preserving and moving it. India is just on the brink of practising these regulations. We slowly see cold storages coming up in cultivation / production centres and refrigerated containers carrying the same across the nation to similar setups in urban centres. All said and done, we are just on the tip of the iceberg here.
Good life means quality living. Our health is an important indicator of quality living. Good health results from unadulterated, clean food habits. Fresh, non-contaminated food transportation and storage is a MUST for this to happen lest, we will become a nation of patients. It is time consumers became truly alert, because, our health is our responsibility.
