A UGC-sponsored two-day national seminar on ‘Food Safety- Concern and Issues’ was conducted at Sr Teresa’s College the other day. Dr Kalpagam Polasa, director-in-charge, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad inaugurated the seminar.
In her keynote address, Polasa gave a comprehensive view of food safety concerns that exist in our country. While stressing on the need for food safety at all levels of the food chain, she highlighted the critical food safety issues at various stages, from agricultural production, storage, transport to consumption.
She elaborated on the fraudulent claims and misbranding of functional foods flooding the market, the need for nutrient risk assessment, use of safe and intelligent packaging materials to prevent adulteration and the importance of having a robust outbreak-handling mechanism with early detection and traceability.
Polasa also mentioned the need for imposing stringent import laws in the country. She exhorted the students to be socially responsible and spend at least 20 percent of one’s lifetime energy for socially-relevant causes and said that the smallest of thought can create great ripples of change.
Sr Teresa, the college principal, in her presidential address, referred to the issue of food safety and standards quoting the alarming food safety issues that have recent made headlines in the state. She emphasized ‘we are what we eat’ and thus it is imperative that the youth of the country resort to safe food habits. The other key sessions of the seminar includes food safety management systems and environmental toxins, safety concerns of commercially-vended foods and quality assurance a public health perspective. Sheelamma Jacob, head of the Department of Home Science, welcomed the gathering and Shilpa Jose, faculty department, Home Science, proposed the vote of thanks.