Adulteration widespread in food items

Rawalpindi : Some working mothers with children often have no time in the mornings to prepare lunch or snacks for their children to take to school so they rush over to the supermarket on the weekends to buy whatever packaged, ready-made food items they consider most wholesome for them.

“I make sure my kids drink milk every day and eat healthy. I fill my shopping trolley with cartons of fruit juice and milk, colourful cereals to tempt the little ones, cookies, and of course chocolates,” says Aniqa Hasan. “Like countless mothers in this country, I trust that these food items have all the nutritional value they claim to have on their package or in delightful ads aired on TV, where they claim to put fresh fruit directly into juice bottles. However, how much of this blind belief is actually based on fact, nobody knows,” adds Aniqa.

“When I go food shopping for my children, I often notice that I don’t understand the language used to print the ingredients on packaged products. Sometimes, I just buy them anyway because they look good or because someone I know mentioned they taste great. It is food, how bad can it be,” says Iman Fatima.

“I buy a colorful candy with a foreign label for my seven-year-old son. He likes colorful food and if I do not buy this for him, he will throw a tantrum. Besides, he has had this candy before, and he never had any health problems because of it,” says Azra Abbas. “What Aniqa and Iman do not realize is that colorful, sealed packaging and persuasive advertising do not necessarily mean these goodies are what they claim to be. Research has shown that these products can potentially harm not only children but adults as well,” says Zahra Mehdi.

“A wholesome diet for children should include carbohydrates, protein, minerals, and water. Fruit juice given to them must have vitamins, such as vitamin C, and a certain sugar content, which helps them get the calories they need. Unfortunately, many packaged fruit juices sold in our markets have 200 to 250 calorie content, but they do not have the required amount of fruit pulp to give children the necessary vitamins,” says nutritionist Zainab Ali. “They also have preservers and acids to make the drinks last longer under any conditions and we have no way of knowing if they follow the safety precautions when it comes to limiting the amount of chemical preservers they use,” adds Zainab.