Recently, in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district, the state's food safety department busted a factory manufacturing fake tomato sauce. The team seized around 800 kg of fake tomato sauce from this factory.
According to officials of the Foods Department, the sauce produced in this factory not only contained tomatoes, but instead of tomato, synthetic colour, corn flour and arrowroot were being added.
Generally people use tomato sauce to enhance the taste of food. Tomato sauce is widely used in junk food and fast food like chow mein, patties, burgers, sandwiches. But fake tomato sauce can spoil your health along with its taste. Prolonged consumption may cause kidney or liver related problems.
So, today In work news We will talk about how to identify fake tomato sauce. You will also know that-
- How is fake tomato sauce prepared?
- What precautions should be taken while buying tomato sauce?
Expert: Virendra Singh Kushwaha, District Food Officer, Rampur (Uttar Pradesh)
Question: What types of harmful chemicals can be found in fake tomato sauce?
Answer: Be it children or adults, everyone eats tomato sauce with great enthusiasm. It enhances the taste of fast food. But if the sauce you're adding to your food to add flavor is fake, it could also contain dangerous chemicals.
Understand this from the following graphic.
Question: What places are most likely to find fake tomato sauce?
Answer- Generally branded and good quality tomato sauce costs around Rs 100 per kg, while fake tomato sauce is available at Rs 20 to 30 per kg. Fast food corners, small restaurants, dhabas and wholesalers around the road want to buy chutney at cheap prices. Adulterants take advantage of this and supply poor quality sauce to such places, making it difficult to identify easily.
Q- What kind of health problems can be caused by consuming fake tomato sauce? Answer: When we go to a restaurant and ask for tomato sauce, they bring a red plastic bottle that contains the sauce. Things like manufacturing company name, expiry date and brand name are not on the bottle. Most places have fake tomato sauce in these bottles. Artificial colors are added to give it a realistic color, which can cause health problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. This disease is a mental disorder, in which there may be lack of concentration, changes in behavior.
Artificial sweeteners added to processed tomato sauces can disrupt metabolism, leading to high blood sugar levels and metabolic syndrome. Apart from this, fake tomato sauce can cause several other health problems. Understand this from the following graphic.
Question: How to detect adulteration in tomato sauce? Answer- Real tomato sauce is made from things like tomato gravy, sugar, vinegar, cayenne and salt. Corn syrup or other vegetable gravy can also be added to thicken it. Counterfeiters also use artificial colors and sweeteners to make fake tomato sauce look like the real thing. In such a situation, it is difficult for everyone to recognize him. But we will tell you some ways by which you can easily distinguish between genuine and fake tomato sauce.
Understand this with the help of the graphic below.
Question- What should be considered while buying tomato sauce?
Answer- There are some basic things to keep in mind while buying tomato sauce, such as-
- Read the ingredients written on the package carefully. Make sure it does not contain any harmful chemicals.
- Importantly, the tomatoes in the tomato sauce are of good quality. So, always buy tomato sauce certified by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
- Tomato sauce should be low in sugar and salt.
- Preservatives should not be used in tomato sauce.
- Tomato sauce packaging should be good and safe.
- Be sure to check the expiry date of tomato sauce before buying it.
- Never buy or consume tomato sauce sold in open bottles.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
