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Of PFNDAI, ILSI and their role in betterment of human nutrition, food safety
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Saturday, 06 October, 2007, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ronita Torcato
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Food Ingredients conference(Fi India 2007) was Dr G M TEWARI, General Manager - Beverage Quality Laboratory / Product Development, Coca- Cola India Pvt Ltd, ex- officio president of the Indian branch of the International Life Sciences Institute, and chairperson of the Protein Foods & Nutrition Development Association of India (PFNDAI). Ronita Torcato talked to Dr Tewari on the sidelines of the just concluded conference. Educated at Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Tewari started his career at the BARC, but left government service for the private sector. He was employed by Cadbury's and Britannia before joining Coca-Cola India at their Pune plant. He has been with the company for 15 years now.
Could you elaborate on the nature of your work at Coke?
When I joined them in 1993, I was part of the technology group for three or four years, now I head the Pune laboratory which is one of the 8 in the world, all reporting To Atlanta. As many as 2,500 samples are analysed in Pune. The samples are picked up by an independent agency and analysed. We see how consumers are perceiving our product.
You are also on the Board of various scientific bodies, one of which, the Protein Foods & Nutrition Development Association of India (PFNDAI), is the joint organiser of this conference.
Well, Coca-Cola by virtue of its membership of the PFNDAI, is one of the sponsors of this conference. PFNDAI was set up as a forum committed to betterment of human nutrition. These include nutrition scientists and food technologists, organised industry involved in the production as well as distribution of food and nutrition products, governmental policy making bodies and regulatory authorities connected with the industry. PFNDAI's executive director, Dr J S Pai, is the former head of the UDCT's Technology wing. We try to influence the government to make the food laws stringent and user friendly. Dr Pai and Dr Sesikeran advise us in promoting nutritional activities in homes, schools and colleges. Every September, we celebrate Nurtition Week with the Government of India.
The International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI ) is a global network of scientists devoted to enhancing the scientific basis for public health decision-making. We try to update scientists in South Asia with the latest developments in food and water safety, nutrition, food regulations, biotechnology, nutrition and improvement in the health profile of malnourished children and women. ILSI-India has provided the scientific perspective on pesticide residues in water and food and their implications to health. We try and give attention to the importance of complementary foods and food fortification. We organise training programmes on Detection Methods for GM Plants/ Foods, with the objective of capacity building in this critical area.
ILSI-India provides scientific inputs and secretarial assistance to the South Asian region, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. We work closely with government, industry, research institutions, academia and international organisations, including FAO, WHO and UNICEF. We have also worked with Dr Indra Chakravarty of the All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkata, in the area of street food.
Ah, street food. But you know that eating pani puri or bhel puri on the beach isn't the same as eating the stuff in a restaurant. Unhygienic yes, but cheaper and delicious, too!
Certainly, but street vendors must learn to be hygienic. They must be prepared to wash with clean water and use gloves in preparing and handling the food. I do believe that if they, and other small traders, do not adapt and conform to safe food practices, they will, ultimately, be wiped out. People will simply stop patronising them and buying foodstuffs from them.
Are all stories about nails dissolving in Coke true?
Well, the nails won't dissolve, but they will certainly be affected by the acidity in the soft drink. But the people who tell these stories won't say a word about lemon or amla which have exactly the same effect.
Why is that?
Because these are natural products, traditional foods and no one wants to say a word against traditional foods. About 20 % of milk sold in the streets continues to be highly adulterated. Many synthetic products are safer than some natural foods. Some natural products can have toxic effects which are equally bad, and sometimes even worse than synthetic products. Excess curcumin in haldi can be bad. An excess of anything can be bad for health. But most people don't know this.
Which means they need to be educated.
Exactly. And organisations like the All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health and the PFNDAI try to do that by organising workshops and seminars and various programmes with educational institutions, whether schools or colleges. The Kolkata institute, for instance, has prepared street food manuals for Thailand. Tourists are highly valued by the Thai government, even the King took keen interest in the educational literature prepared for them by the IHPH. But India has yet to use the manual.
What are the challenges of working for a company whose fizzy drink is banned, with other carbonated drinks, in several educational institutions in the US and India?
There's the political opposition. And then, there are the NGOs.
Don't you think some of the criticisms are justified, given the ground water depletion not to speak of the lack of nutritive value in fizzy drinks?
Coca-Cola has policies to conserve water, dig bore wells. It supports the government in developing watersheds. It has even worked with the Government of Rajasthan. The company has no advertisements promoting the drink for children. Drinking one or two Cokes a day doesn't make you susceptible to poor health. Drinking in excess, certainly. Did you know Coke was developed as a medicinal product for women by Dr Pemberton who then sold it to a marketing outfit which eventually sold it as Coca-Cola. Today, the actual drink doesn't cost much, it's the marketing costs which are very high.
The story goes that the drink is produced from a secret formula.
There is a formula, but I can only tell you the concentrate is brought from the US and used worldwide. The water is specially treated to get that special taste.
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