BHUBANESWAR: Amid prevailing global disruptions in food and fuel supply chain, the state government has zeroed in on oil usage in college canteens and issued a diktat asking them to avoid including deep-fried items Pooris and Vadas in their menu.
The Higher Education department (DHE) has also asked them to reduce dependence on imported cooking oils and prefer traditional products. It also stressed that hostels and canteens should reduce usage of cooking oil while preparing the food for the students.
“Avoid high-oil menu items like Pooris, Vadas and Bondas in breakfast and reduce deep-fried food without compromising nutrition. Promote the use of traditional ghee, mustard oil and groundnut oil over imported palm, sunflower and soyabean oil,” the department stated.
The National Service Scheme (NSS) and Youth Red Cross (YRC) volunteers should also be mobilised to organise awareness programmes in the community to encourage reduction in the use of oil in day-to-day household cooking, the directive stated.
DHE deputy secretary Ramesh Chandra Behera, who wrote to principals of all the government-run and aided colleges in this regard on Friday, said the world has been facing repeated supply chain disruptions and crises since the pandemic. “The recent conflicts in Ukraine and Iran also resulted in supply-side issues concerning food, fertiliser and fuel,” he said.
Stating that no country in the world is immune to the economic impact of such crisis, Behera said, many countries have initiated various measures to manage reduction of fuel demand. “India is also facing the negative consequences of this long-standing crisis and in this light Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also made a public appeal to citizens to contribute in small ways towards addressing the situation facing the country,” he said.
Health experts have welcomed the move even as it has been made in view of the food and fuel supply disruptions. “Reducing oil use and limiting fried items in hostels/colleges is an indirect benefit, as it helps in reduction of lifestyle diseases and conditions like obesity. Alternative healthy breakfasts have always been available, which are also cost effective, like sprouts, dalia, upma, dosa, uttapam, etc., many of which do not depend on enormous oil. It is a good time to utilise this wartime situation to bring about a revolutionary change,” said professor of community medicine, Sum Hospital, and promoter Live Hundred Clinic Dr Sandeep Kumar Panigrahi.
Deep fried food items can still be cooked using oxy-fryer, air-fryer or even sometimes microwaved, he added.