By Seema Meena,
We moved to Mumbai a couple of months back. My two girls (3 years and 1 year old) keeps me super busy and extremely happy.
As all parents, I am extra cautious about the hygiene levels of the food my children consume. I ensured that the vegetables we use were not grown or washed from the sewage water,- a practice which is fairly common in Mumbai. Another common practice in the city is home delivery of milk every morning. I still remember that on 6th May, 2015 my husband noticed a slight change in the milk packet (Amul) which was delivered to us. He called the concerned person at Amul. He visited our house and upon seeing the packet confirmed that it was not a genuine Amul milk and that it was adulterated. I was shocked to hear this. I had no idea what I had been feeding my babies for all this while. I remembered how happy I used to be when my daughters finished the entire glass of milk.
I felt cheated and was angry.
I had not overcome this shock and news of Maggi ‘s elevated lead levels showed up. Of course, we all know that it is not a healthy Snack but a company like Nestle who makes products like formula milk and infant food amongst others alleged of fake advertising and misleading the consumers was a shocker again. Suddenly, I was not upset with our milk vendor. If a company like nestle chooses to make profit at the cost of its consumer’s health, it is not surprising if a semi-literate, poor man chooses the same path to earn some extra bucks!!
I started looking all food with suspicion and reading all ingredients carefully. I also discovered that Knorr veg soups which carry the Green dot uses flavor enhancers like 627 and 631. A quick search on the google revealed that these flavor enhancers are usually derived from fish or meat. How does it make the soup suitable for vegetarians?? Why does it contain the green dot? Another instance of fooling the consumers.
There have also been reports that Johnson’s products are not safe for babies. We have trusted all these brands for years but the question really is have these companies valued our trust??. I think NO. Time has come that we tell them that we will not eat the crap, they give us to eat. They have to behave themselves and stop lying to us.
As for now, I have decided to say NO to packaged food and turn a blind eye to those luring claims on the packet such as No added MSG, low fat, sugar free, no trans fat. We have to chose our food intelligently keeping in mind our children’s / family’s health and nutrition requirement. To avoid fake food product, I now buy them from authorized distributor only.
I will not buy BAD health. Will you??
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