PANAJI
The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA)’s Goa office on Tuesday clearly said that wrapping food in newspapers is a safety hazard and can be injurious to health of people. FDA’s office further stated that food packed in newspapers can be harmful even if the food was cooked properly.
A press note sent by FDA said, “Foods contaminated by newspaper ink raise serious health concerns since the ink contains multiple bio-active materials with known negative health effects.”
It continued, “Printing inks may also contain harmful colours, pigments, binders, additives and preservatives. Besides chemical contaminants, presence of pathogenic micro organisms in used newspapers also pose potential risk to human health.”
In fact, older people, teenagers, children and people with compromised vital organs and immune systems are at a greater risk of acquiring cancer-related health complications, if they are exposed to food packed in newspaper.
FDA-Goa advised all the food business operators, including street food vendors, kiosks/fast food outlets, as well as consumers and the general public that newspapers should not be used to wrap, cover and serve food, or to absorb excess oil from fried food.
