Food Safety- A modern western concept?

Till very recently I believed that my first exposure to food safety was the training programme for HACCP that I attended in the 1990s. In the Tea industry where I worked, we were using the processing technology developed at least 50 years back. However, there had been various commendable improvements and modification, the core process and the ways of doing work had remained largely unchanged. I was very proud of my proficiency in the art of tea making and would refer to it as a ―Scientific Art‖. My training on HACCP jolted me out of my reverie. It dawned on me that the way we were handling the product during and after processing was unsafe from Food Safety perspective. The process itself was high risk and there were minimal checks and controls. Developing the HACCP plan for Tea Processing and Packaging has been one of my most challenging as well as cherished assignment. I read, studied and interacted with experts to gain an understanding of ―Food Safety‖ and soon developed the Food Safety Star. The Food Safety Star became my tool of explaining the concept of food safety.

The Star consisted of 4 points:

1.    Hygiene

2.    Contamination

3.    Preservation

4.    Storage

For Food Safety to be ensured this star needs to keep shining in any food processing unit. The first point of the star is Hygiene.

As per the World Health Organisation, WHO Food hygiene are the conditions and measures necessary to ensure the safety of food from production to consumption. Food can become contaminated at any point during slaughtering or harvesting, processing, storage, distribution, transportation and preparation. Lack of adequate food hygiene can lead to foodborne diseases and death of the consumer. It is vital that good standards of personal hygiene are maintained by food handlers. Contaminated hands will spread bacteria around very quickly. Clean hands, clothes and appropriate PPEs are imperative The equipment and surfaces that the food comes into contact with also need to be kept clean.

The next point is Contamination or prevention of Contamination to be more precise. Food contamination refers to the presence of harmful substances in food, which can cause illness. Food contamination can be classified into four parts:

1.    Biological Contamination

2.    Physical Contamination

3.    Chemical Contamination

4.    Cross-Contamination

The next point in the Food Safety Star is Preservation. This is a process by which growth of bacteria, fungi (such as yeasts), and other microorganisms is prevented and natural process like oxidation is retarder or totally inhibited. Thus, preventing the food from spoiling or turning rancid. Cooking or processing of food with appropriate controls on various parameters is the key to preservation. Refrigeration, addition of preservatives, homogenisations are some examples of preservation.

The last point in the Food Safety Star is Storage. Most food produced today is stored before consumption. The importance of storing food in a manner that keep it safe for consumption is increasing by the day. Advances in packaging technology have contributed to reduction in food safety risks and increase in shelf life.

Food safety is an American concept, or so was my belief since HACCP originated in the 1960‘s, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Pillsbury Company, and the U.S. Army Laboratories collaborated together to provide safe food for upcoming space expeditions. The system of using Critical Control Points formed the crux of NASA‘s engineering management requirements. Critical Control Points (CCP) was used to test weapon and engineering system reliability and by using CCP, NASA and Pillsbury were able to hire contractors to identify and eliminate the ―critical failure areas‖ in the food processing procedures.

After the success of NASA providing safe food for their space expeditions, a microbiologist at Pillsbury, Howard Baumann, who also helped in the NASA initiative, adopted a HACCP plan for their process post a product recall due to contamination. Because of this outbreak and Baumann‘s success with HACCP, a panel discussion was held in 1971 at the National Conference on Food Protection that examined Critical Control Points and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in producing safe food. The outcome of this meeting lead to the FDA asking Pillsbury to establish and manage a training program for the inspection of canned foods for FDA inspectors. The program was first held in September 1972 for 21 days, with 11 days of classroom lecture and 10 days of canning plant evaluations. The name of this class was titled, ―Food Safety through the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System‖, and this was the first time HACCP was used to educate other food facilities in the industry. Ever since HACCP is a program that government agencies and food facilities have relied on for years and will be a program that continues to have an impact on food safety and in the food industry for years to come.

Multinational companies brought in the concept of Food safety into India. The Food  Safety  laws,  standards  and  processes  in  India  are  derived  from  what originated in the west. Implementing HACCP in India posed some unique and complex challenges. There was a belief that this concept is alien to our culture and society and requires behavioural changes that most Indian did not see as possible. HACCP certification became a ―Export requirement‖. Explaining the concept of Food Safety to workmen at Indian Food processing units was akin to explaining the importance of Seat Belts to someone used to travelling on the roof of a bus!

In one of the sustainability seminars, I happened to sit between a European and an Indian Environmentalist on a panel discussion on Plastic Waste. India is the faster growing generator of plastic waste. My European panellist was lecturing us on how, unlike the west, we in India use the Styrofoam plates and dump them in the ecosystem causing the ballooning environmental crisis. He squarely put the blame on the Indian culture of littering! Though I would have loved to retort but despite my nationalistic Indian heart my mind agreed with him till my Indian Panellist took the mic. He invoked the Ancient Vedas to showcase how we had been living in harmony with nature for hundreds of years till the westerners exposed us to the polluting, unsustainable ways. We were happy with our disposable earthen cups called Kullahar of Bhar for our Tea and dried leaf plates called pattal or banana leaf for disposable plates till they showed us Styrofoam cups and plates! He went on to ask the European why instead of adopting the eco-friendly ways of our country they chose to bring in their environmental problem to us. I enjoyed the look on the Europeans face.

We very generously hand over credit for everything to the western world and the same appears true of food safety!

I am fortunate to have witnessed the traditional Indian way of living in my maternal village in my child hood. Food there was cooked in the part of a kitchen called the chauka which would be a rectangular shape drawn on the floor with lime and turmeric. The area inside this would be cleaned and sanitised by ancient rituals and prayers. All cooking would be done inside this chauka by my grandmother or aunt immediately after having a bath and wearing washed clothes. The food cooked would be kept inside the chauka and anything taken beyond the line even accidentally would be discarded. To have our meals we had to take and bath and go straight to the chauka and sit on the floor and eat there itself. Once everyone had finished eating the chauka would be broken amidst prayers to various Gods. This was repeated at every meal 365 days a year. All cooking and consumption happened in the sanitised space. The personal hygiene of both the person cooking and the one eating had to be perfect. This process ensured Food Safety much before the need of it was felt in the west.

Ancient Indian scriptures mandate that food be prepared and consumed in a particular manner and the concept of food safety is an integral part of all of them. Our forefathers realised the importance of Food Safety and practiced it much before the modern civilisation. It is high time that we stop looking at food safety as western concept and embrace it as our very own!