A Healthy Bite

Food safety simply means the condition to keep any foodabsolutely free from contaminations and fit for human consumption. It is thehygienic and nutritional food which permits the development and maintenance ofgood health. In 2015, WHO reported the first ever estimate of disease burdencaused by 31 food borne agents at global and regional level. So, without asafe, healthy and hygienic intake of food one cannot even dream of a healthyand potent output.

Globalization has triggered growing consumer demand for awider variety of food resulting in an increasingly complex and longer foodchain. Climate change also has an impact on food safety and risks associatedwith its production, storage and distribution. Thus these challenges have put agreat responsibility on food producers and handlers to ensure food safety.

   

So, in order to provide safe and wholesome food to thecountrymen, government of India made Food Safety Act 2006, rules 2011 andregulations 2011 for the whole country. The same act was adopted by the Govt.of J&K by way of legislation. By virtue of this act some science basedstandards for the articles of food were laid down. This has enabled governmentof India to take under its control the food industry of the country. Under thisact even a petty manufacturer has to follow basic hygiene and safetyrequirements provided by these regulations. The guidance on a food safetymanagement system, for bakery and bakery products is based on part-II ofschedule (IV) of food safety and standards.

For the bakery industry there are many challenges, such asequipments which need to be hygienically designed and the policies which definethe safety of these equipments such as planetary  mixers, spiral mixers, dough dividers anddough rounders, moulders dough sheaters, ovens and even extractors and overalla clean mandate of improved packing and technology trends. We need to advancein this area.

From the Food Safety angle which is the key factor for foodlaws of the country, we can make use of advancements that we see today in theglobal knowledge and can later integrate them for the benefit of cottage, smalland medium industries.

So, every product from each bakery must have a fixed seal ofsafety and nutrition packed into it. We can achieve this given target easilyprovided we interface and not become silos of industries which only worriestheir profits. We must go beyond it and think beyond it. We must pledge toensure ethical business which dominates so that customers may get safe andcontamination free articles of food.

Here the question arises how can we become leaders in thearea of food production, even though we know that bakery was not one of themain food stuffs that we were producing in the recent past. But due to theinnovations and adoption of latest trends we could grab an opportunity to leadthe food industry to the next level. We also need to have new plans which areenergy conservative and cost-effective. The mantra behind those plans is toprocess more products and to have more progress by innovations and valueadditions. For the purpose we need to look at ingredients such as high fiber,low fat high protein and to a large extent minimize the carbohydrates in ourproducts.

 Another importantarea that the bakery industry has to focus on is the use of millets. PresentlyIndia consumes 90 lakh metric tons of millets, one of the highest in the world.So bakers should not hesitate in using this opportunity for their productswhich are acceptable nutritionally and are available at an affordable cost.

From the nutritional point of view an average Indian todayis consuming 5 gram less protein than what is required.

In Kashmir, foods fortified with carbohydrates in the shapeof rice are being consumed at a large scale which is alarming from the healthpoint of view. In order to overcome this we need to shift to other alternativessuch as cereals, pulses, fruits – both dry and fresh, in our products. This ishow we can fill up the gap with a clear mandate of high protein and high fiber.

In India nearly 10 million people are suffering from severaldiseases related to sensitiveness of wheat. One of them is celiac disease, agenetically determined autoimmune condition that can be present in any agegroup. This forces a patient to eat non-wheat, no-rye and non-barely products.So the role of the pulses, millets and fruits in the bakery products is ofimmense importance. As these are non-glutinous in nature they play a great rolefor regulation of immune system and autoimmune problems which people may have.

Here is the greatest opportunity for new additives andingredients to make non wheat flavors which behave like wheat. As a result ofinnovations and new trends in food habits the present world has seen asuccessful food product in the shape of noodles. In some of the countriesnoodles were not dominant food but now these have become their staple food.Snacky, healthy and less fat noodles have huge market share. 140 millionpackets of noodles are being consumed a day as estimated in 2015 which can goup to 200 trillion packets by 2020. Same way bakery industry has a lot to do increating new markets for producing healthy products by way of using differentflavors and health hosed ingredients. At the same time, in order to fightobesity, one of the greatest challenges of the present world and to enhance thecognitive development. On the other side by way of innovative products withless fat, this problem can be solved easily. This can happen only with a clearscience based approach and radiate the timeline to make things happen easilyand rapidly. The role of biotechnology, molecular medicine, nutritional scienceand traditional food knowledge can be of great advantage for bakery industrywhich should be capitalized with low level of salt, sugar and fat.

By adopting all the above trends I think bakery industry canplay a great role in building the health of nation.

Sufi Bashir Basher is Ex. President, Kashmir Bakers Association.

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