By Patricia Mukhim
For the first time ever the fairly new Commissionerate of Food Safety under the Health Department held a marathon seven-hour long meeting which brought together several departmental heads under one roof since food is a cross-cutting subject. If one is to talk about food production then the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments are first respondents. But so are the Soil Conservation and Water Resources Department and the Forest Department too since as tribals we still forage for food like mushrooms, edible herbs and a host of berries and fruits from our forests.
In fact, the reason why governance suffers is because departments work in silos – a fact that was recognised when the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) was created in 2012. The idea then was that at the village level people look for a package deal under one head – water, soil, agriculture, horticulture, irrigation etc. When a Department enters a village alone it becomes difficult to organise the communities around just that single department because their lives are intertwined in a host of activities which require a holistic approach. If governance in Meghalaya or elsewhere has failed it is because of the individualism in each department. Officers of several departments are not used to planning together and working not for departmental goals but always in the larger interests of the communities they work with. This mindset change is critical and if the transition is delayed and the disruption does not happen, Meghalaya will continue to face a governance crisis.
When I was invited to the day-long Conclave on Food Safety I decided not just to be at the inaugural session but to also listen to experts on food safety making their presentations. I was there not as a media person but a concerned individual considering we are today unsure about the safety of the food we consume from the fruits to vegetables, meat and fish and of course the range of other packaged foods we get off the shelves of supermarkets and grocery stores. Many of us don’t read the labels and therefore don’t know what we are really consuming and if we are ingesting additives that will harm our health over a long period of time. This was brought to our attention by Dr Sandra Albert, head of the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) here. From Dr Sandra’s brief interjection one could learn that much of the processed food we buy without reading labels to find out what harmful additives and preservatives are added could over the long term accumulate in our bodies and over the long term could cause cancers.
It is interesting to note that Dr Joram Bede, Commissioner and Secretary, Health Department and also Commissioner of Food Safety and himself a medical doctor while speaking at the meeting made an appeal to the invitees present at the meeting that food safety is a shared responsibility and the media has a role in disseminating the right information to the public about how safe is the food they are consuming, very often mindlessly. Also important is for the media to create awareness about the harmful effects of pesticides applied mindlessly and of chemical fertilisers dumped on the soil with the hope of a rich harvest. Today, informed individuals don’t mind paying more for organic food and vegetables if they can be assured of the authenticity of the claim made. In our effort to feed a huge population and produce more, India has gone on the fast track to use both chemical fertilisers and pesticides. To put back the clock now will take time and patience. The soil has to recover from its dependency on fertilisers. And while there are bio-pesticides made of natural ingredients perhaps these are yet to reach the last mile. But with extra effort from scientists and experts from the Agriculture and Horticulture Department and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), so much can be done to revolutionise farming.
In my travels to rural Meghalaya I have witnessed farmers who grow tomatoes spraying pesticide liberally to prevent blight and other diseases. Reading up I learnt that there are at least 22 diseases that affect tomatoes of which I knew only of blight and mildew. Imagine the plight of consumers who don’t wash the tomato properly before putting it in a salad. And we don’t really know if the pesticides used can be removed merely by washing the tomatoes. Cabbage and cauliflowers require both fertilisers and pesticides to be able to make it to the market. Those of us who grow these vegetables in the kitchen garden can watch out for insects and remove them physically but not in large farms. This is the existential crisis of our times.
A society is as healthy as the food it consumes. But just how sure can we be that we are consuming food that is free from harmful chemicals? Our broiler chickens are fed food that pushes them to grow unnaturally. So are pigs injected with hormones for rapid growth. Just how much can the government control these market forces if the public has no issue with them. A few years ago the Commissionerate of Food Safety, Meghalaya tested the fish that was imported from Andhra Pradesh and found that they contained formalin which was used to prevent them from rotting on the long journey over high temperatures. We are thankful for the Commissionerate’s energetic workers including the Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioner for Food Safety for bringing that to our notice so we could take appropriate steps and make informed decisions whether to continue to buy fish from Andhra Pradesh or look for locally grown ones.
It was heartening to listen to the Health Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh expressing her concern on how to take state of the art testing facilities closer to the people especially food producers so that there is constant surveillance, testing and certifying of food sold and consumed. The minister correctly stated that food safety certification cannot come after people have suffered from food poisoning. Food testing is meant to prevent any such mishap.
With 25 Food Safety Inspectors and 8 food safety labs on wheels plus a state of the art food testing laboratory what the Commissionerate needs now is constant hands-on training so that the outcomes are more visible. As was mentioned by some of the expert paper presenters there is a need to have in place a strong traceability system so that harmful chemicals are detected early on.
As Dr Joram Beda said, Good health is good food and the enemy of good food is poor hygiene, freshness and care. Most people don’t check the labels to read what they are buying and if the food product has expired. Perhaps some responsibility on this front and a more aware consumer would reduce the health problems associated with food.
Meghalaya is fortunate to have a young and enthusiastic food connoisseur in Nambie Jessica Marak who was the first runners-up at the Masterchef India 2023. Nambie’s presence as someone who knows food, how and where to source food and how it is to be treated after it is cooked. Nambie’s short but meaningful speech at the Conclave was a masterclass in understanding that good food is not boring food. Her quotation, “The best meal is one that loves you back,” drew huge applause. She added further, “By enforcing hygiene standards, promoting safe handling and educating vendors and households we don’t just prevent disease, we elevate our food culture.“ Nambie stressed that though Meghalaya is rich in greens and herbs it is how these are washed and handled that matters. Washing anything that’s eaten raw in contaminated water is how we often become victims of diarrhoea or dysentery or other forms of food poisoning. Nambie has so much to teach us about how to eat healthy and is rightly called an icon of not just good and healthy cooking but also careful and hygienic preparation.
With the Commissionerate of Food Safety having taken this illustrious step let’s hope we have a more healthy and conscious Meghalaya. Perhaps a one-day interaction between media persons and the Commissionerate staff and officers would be a good way forward.