Packaging that protects

G. Chandrashekhar

``A HEALTHY mind in a healthy body'' may be cliched; but it packs in the profound wisdom accumulated over the centuries.

Food safety and public health are critical for any civilised society and, therefore, are an integral part of the State's sovereign functions.

It may be argued that it is not part of the government's duty to ensure food production or consumption. However, it surely is the government's primary responsibility to ensure that unsafe food is not sold to unwary citizens. This is why we have a host of laws that protect consumers' interests. The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, and the rules made thereunder are intended to ensure food safety and assure consumers about the quality of food available in the marketplace. But the incidents of adulteration and substandard food products do come to the fore occasionally.

The memory of the dropsy deaths that occurred when consumers consumed adulterated mustard oil a few years ago is still traumatic. Also, there have been cases of the unauthorised blending of vegetable oils. Why and how is this happening and what can be done to combat it?

A serious shortage of edible oils production in the country has led to imports meeting the shortfall by as much as 40 per cent of the consumption requirement. The country's edible oils trade is largely unorganised. There are too many players in the industry and this makes monitoring difficult. This creates conditions ideal for the unscrupulous to make a killing -- literally.

Added to this is the lack of adequate purchasing power, ignorance of consumers, poor testing facilities and tardy implementation of food laws. Over 75 per cent of the oil sold in the country is in loose form, creating ideal conditions for unscrupulous traders and illegal blenders to thrive.

To address the issue of food safety, the Government promulgated the Edible Oil Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998, a Central legislation. However, the responsibility of its implementation has been left to the State Governments.

The salient features of this Order include the compulsory registration of packers, the sale, distribution, despatch and delivery of edible oils only in packed, marked and labelled form as specified. It is indeed a progressive legislation, the intention of which is consumer welfare. It purports to ensure that only edible oils that meet the prescribed quality standards and are correctly packed and labelled would be allowed to be marketed in the interests of the consumer.

In the present dispensation of the sale of edible oils in loose form, there are several deficiencies and health risks. Oil technologists assert that cooking oils distributed in loose form run far greater risks of deterioration in quality through exposure to the atmosphere and, consequently, oxidation. The shelf-life of loose oils is limited and turn rancid sooner.

Loose oils also run the risk of contamination, intended or otherwise, through multiple handling, unclean containers, unhygienic storage and transportation. It is easy to adulterate loose oil with cheap materials. The unwary consumer cannot check the quality of oil, except visually.

The health risks associated with the consumption of oil in loose form are indeed high. More importantly, they are more amenable to adulteration by unscrupulous traders. At present, the loose oil consumer is being shortchanged, and he is blissfully unaware of it. When he buys loose oil, the quality and quantity are suspect.

This is where the Edible Oil Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998, comes in. If this order is implemented, the consumer would get the full quantity of oil he pays for, unadulterated, a product with an adequate shelf-life, and he would know the exact details of the contents, including price, weight and the name of the manufacturer.

Admittedly, there are constraints to the quick and nation-wide implementation of the packaging order. These need to be addressed comprehensively. The order must be implemented in phases. To start with, it may be implemented in all the metropolises, and expanded to the other areas within a pre-determined period. But the most important constraint seems to be the mindset of the State Governments, which do not seem to be taking this law seriously for political expediency. Responding to vociferous protests from trade, most State Governments have either put off implementing the order or kept the matter ``in abeyance''. In Andhra Pradesh, one of the few States that initiated action to implement the order, the move has run into litigation.

There are apprehensions about the cost of packaging, availability of packing material, the investment needed for the installation of facilities and so on. To a considerable extent these are exaggerated. Investments will flow where business opportunities exist.

The challenge is to put in place appropriate systems to pack over seven million tonnes of edible oil now sold loose. An appropriate system would focus on testing quality and packaging, and the focus of packaging should be on `least cost', given that loose oil is consumed by the economically-weaker sections.

The packaging industry has gone on record that it is positioned to offer solutions to the current problems of loose oil sales. According to the industry, the availability of raw materials is adequate and the capacity exists to create packaging solutions. Flexible pouches offer the least-cost option. Pouch-packing machines are available for Rs 2.5-5 lakh. Considering that human lives may actually be at stake, this hardly seems a stiff price to pay.