Organic Food is not 100% organic. We tested few samples and found for our utter surprise that except two to three percent, all the samples contained chemical residues shared Dr.K Keshavulu – Director Telangana State Seed & Organic Certification Authority while participating in a Panel Discussion, “We are what we eat”, organised by city based Big Marketeers Consulting Service on the eve of “World Food Day” today.
H. Madhavi of Big Marketeers Consulting Service while welcome said, Panel Discussion is an endeavour to create awareness in public about “we are what we eat”. Food literacy is the most important aspect of life, she added.
Speaking further Dr. Keshavulu stated that unfortunately we don’t have clear cut regulations. We need to have regulations, similar to western countries.
Responding on how to identify right organic food, he said it was a million dollar question. The only way is to send samples for testing. But, it is very expensive and one sample test costs Rs 35 to 40 thousands, he quickly added. And it is also time consuming. So we need government support to get testing affordable, Dr. Keshavulu told.
We need to encourage pesticides free farming. Though we are self sufficient in producing food grains which we are also exporting, but, we produce insufficient millets and pulses, which are good for health. So we must encourage farming community to produce these crops more, informed Dr. Keshavulu.
Moderating the discussion, Suresh Kamireddy, Group Managing Director, KLCP Holdings Pvt Ltd said while we have hunger oneside, excessive usage of food the other side. And we waste a lot of food too. Anything excessive is poisonous. Food is no exception. We are what we eat. This excessive consumption of food is leading to lifestyle diseases.
We need to eat to live. And we shouldn’t be living to eat. We should eat balanced diet said another panellist Dr. Rajender Reddy – Former Director Telangana Dept of AYUSH
Sharing her thoughts on the subject, Nutritionist, Sridevi Jasti said six out of ten are victims of lifestyle diseases. Over eating is taking the toll. There is a strong reason why our ancestors followed a practice called fasting during festive times. It is good to give break sometimes, she added. We must eat as close to natural foods as possible to eliminate chronic diseases, she informed.
We are not born with bad or good habits. We make them. Cultivate good and healthy eating habits she told.
Adding his views on the subject Dr.GBK Rao – Chairman & Managing Director Pragati Group said people from all over the world gather nutritional products from trees including fruits, nuts, seeds, leaves, bark. Trees are good source of food. From 1000 trees per person in India, we are reduced to the nation with just 28 trees per person. US has 716 trees.
There are only 35 billion trees in India to shade a population of 1.3 billion.
Russia has 4,461, Brazil 1,494, Canada has 8,953, China 102 trees per person informed Rao.