Diwali Mithai - A Word of Caution!
Sweets have been and are an integral part of our lives. They assume renewed significance during the festive season. And when it’s the turn of Diwali (which can be comfortably compared with Christmas taking into consideration the amount of celebration involved), there is no stopping for anybody be it kids, youth or elderly. Those with diabetes enjoy sugar free sweets. The most convenient token to take to somebody’s home is a box of sweets, it seems, for the people. The demand during the festive season is so huge that no matter how hard the Mithai-walas try, they always fall short of stock. The big gap between demand and supply allows large scale adulteration in the sweets. You can’t be sure whether the Pista Burfi which you are gorging upon is made really from pistachios or it has a considerable amount of green peas mixed to it. The scenario is even worse in the sweets made from Khoya. Also, one more item which is adulterated on mass scale is Paneer. Bright coloured sweets look attractive, but the colours are often harmful. The sweets makers freely use food grade colours like tartrazine, carmine, indigo, sunset yellow and green. The prescribed norm is 100 parts per million but concentrations of up to 200 parts per million are regularly found in sweets prepared during the festive season. It’s better to choose light coloured sweets and the chances of these being adulterated are less. Testing ‘Khoya’ is easy. Just rub the same on your palm and the more it is pure, the more your palm would become oily from the fat of the ‘Khoya’. Instead of pure ghee, shopkeepers might use adulterated ghee or even worse, they may resort to using refined oil which has no odour and can be used in place of pure ghee without detection. Toxic colours, which may be carcinogenic (agents which may cause cancer), are used because they increase the attractiveness of the sweets, are cheap and are available easily. Especially attracted to colourful sweets are children. Unhygienic condition in which sweets are often mass produced to cater to Diwali demand, poses another very serious health hazard. How to combat all this adulteration? Here’s a simple piece of advice. Buy sweets from reputed shops in the city only. Why? Because, they have earned their goodwill based on assuring quality for years. So, if their quality takes a bit of a beating during the festive season and even if their product is a bit higher priced than the others, still it would be better than the product of the small timers. Quantity is a meaningless concept if one compromises on quality. Tell me…Would you like to enjoy 1 pizza baked to perfection or 3 pizzas of inferior quality? Also, while buying milk and milk products, consumers should ensure that the products are fresh with good flavours and texture. After all, health is important. Is it not? Cheers! Happy Diwali! Buy Sweets
More on Diwali and Sweets
Bookmark
|
