I read with disgust the news about the recent case in China where an unscrupulous street snack vendor mixed chemically softened cardboards into his pork buns so as to cut down on production cost and increase profit. The cardboards from discarded boxes were first softened using industrial chemicals before being mixed with low quality pork in the ratio of 6:4, and then stuffed into buns and steamed, before being sold to the customers. The audacious vendor even showed how the process is done and claimed that most people cannot tell the difference in taste.
It is horrifying to see that the food we eat might be posing a health hazard to us, especially when we are unsure about the process of making the food behind the scenes. The prospect of eating cardboard doused with chemicals will definitely not go well with the consumers. That brings me back to the topic on mind. Is the food we are eating nowadays killing us?
First, there have been allegations that genetically-modified food, which promised to alleviate hunger with higher yield and faster growing crops and claimed to taste better, is actually a danger to human health because genes that are not present naturally are introduced, leading to unknown health effects that might trigger allergies more easily.
Secondly, there have been reports claiming that seafood we eat are contaminated due to their consumption of toxic materials released into the waters by polluting factories, posing a health risk to people who indirectly ingest the toxic materials.
Now, we have increasing numbers of cases of food that has atrocious safety and hygiene standards. This makes me wonder whether we are doing enough to ensure the food we eat is safe.
I attribute the problem of unsafe food to 3 reasons: Insufficient knowledge of food biology, the extensive damage of the environment by humans and lastly, the lack of inspection on safety and hygiene of food sold.
Insufficient knowledge of food biology. Before we even get a full picture of how the ecosystem works, we rush to come up with genetic modifications and claim it to be a scientific breakthrough, where in the real case the genetically modified food may turn out to be detrimental for health. More research has to be done in this area so as to ensure that genetically modified food does not have any side effects on human health and that its benefits outweigh that of conventional food.
Extensive damage to the environment is a dire situation faced by many countries in the world, typically developing countries. Firms simply release their untreated sewage into nearby rivers and lakes, polluting the waters and contaminating marine life. As a result, many sources of food dependent on these waters, like fish and prawns which are contaminated with toxic materials are unwittingly consumed by people, leading to various ailments such as birth deformation and even death. More controls should be imposed 0n these firms over the pollution issue, so as not to pollute seafood habitat and thus make food consumed safer.
Lack of inspection on safety and hygiene of food sold. Government officials are to be blamed for this fiasco. Despite having many cases of food poisoning across the world, individual countries have done little to step in the solve the problem. As a result, rogue vendors mentioned above thrive in the market, plunging the society's health problems to the worst. The report on the street vendor might just be the tip of an iceberg. Therefore, health officials should treat every complain of food standards seriously, and make an effort to record down information of licensed food sellers and arrest those who continue to sell food illegally.
If the above three problems are solved, I do not see why unsafe food should be haunting us today.
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