KARACHI, June 29: Probably in the coming academic session, parents will care more about the quality of the food and water consumed by their wards, who, according to government scientists, were more prone to health hazards by consuming adulterated food and polluted water made available to them at their schools, both in government and private sectors.
Scientists of the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), after assessing quality of the food items and drinking water at various government and private schools in the city, revealed at a seminar on Wednesday that the situation was ‘highly alarming’ and needed to be addressed on top priority basis.
They said that 44 per cent of food and beverage samples assessed were found to have contained non-food-grade colours and 21 per cent samples of fried food items found to be unfit for human consumption.About water, it was said that 36 per cent of the 780 samples assessed were found unfit for human consumption. More than one third of the samples were contaminated with pathogenic and indicator bacteria, said one of the scientists, suggesting that microbial contamination and its control must never be compromised.
In all 110 government and 380 private schools were covered in the survey which was conducted till December, 2005 in 62 localities, including Lyari, Baldia, Lines Area, Federal B Area, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauher, Sindhi Muslim Society, Bahadurabad, Defence and Clifton.
About beverages, it was learnt that 48 per cent of the unbranded beverages were found contaminated and unfit microbiologically. It was recommended that effective measures be taken to check the unhygienic conditions prevailing on and around the vending carts selling the local beverages and other wet food products that did not require heating.
Parents were urged to ensure that their children did not consume substandard food and the products with non-food-grade
colours. It should also be ensured that the children consumed only boiled or filtered water.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the seminar on ‘Quality Assessment Survey of Food Items and Drinking Water of selected schools/educational institutions of capital cities of Pakistan’, Chairman of the PCSIR Dr Javed Arshad Mirza said that some serious action must be taken at provincial and national level as the situation was not very encouraging.
“The findings of the study, I am sure, will serve as a guideline for the regulatory authorities in legislation and making future plans. There is a need to ensure supply of safe drinking water to the consumers and maintaining quality of water at source as well as every checkpoint of the distributing system,” he noted.
Giving details of a project, Director General of PCSIR, Dr Tanzil Haider Usmani, said that quality of water, food and beverage items at schools had been a matter of serious concern for the public health, in general, and to children’s health, in particular. PCSIR undertook the project by covering the schools of all four provincial capitals and the federal capital, under a Rs20.22 million PSDP project, he said, adding that scientific analysis of the samples collected in Karachi and Lahore had been completed and reports pertaining to the remaining three capitals, Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad would be finalised soon.
Referring to the results of the analysis of samples collected in Karachi, Dr Usmani said that it identified some areas which needed vigorous efforts in order to ensure availability of safe food and water to citizens.
Responding to the concerns raised by experts, Sindh Health Minister Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani said that there was a need to create awareness among masses about avoiding consumption of unhygienic food and beverages.
At the same time, the concerned officials of the provincial and local governments needed to keep a watch on the sale of unhygienic food items, especially within and around the educational institutions where students’ health was under threat from unscrupulous vendors, he remarked.
During the technical session of the seminar, Seema Ismat, co-director of the project, said that a total of 2003 samples of food items, 780 of drinking water and 1,220 of beverages samples, were collected from both government and private schools.
The scope of the study was also spread to proper liaison with the city nazim and representatives from education, food and health departments of Sindh for preparing guidelines and drafting legislation on permissible food colours, she added.
In his presentation on microbiological analysis of water and beverage samples, Scientific Officer of the PCSIR Korish Hasnain Sahir said that children should be encouraged to drink adequate water as this would protect them from suffering headache, irritability and sleepiness.
About test results, he said that 269 samples (34 per cent) were found containing coliforms, another 185 contained faecal coliforms and 156 E-coli. No branded sample of water or beverage was found to be unfit for human consumption, he added.
Nida Saleem, also a Scientific Officer of the PCSIR shared the findings pertaining to survey of colours in food and beverage items. Since colorants are widely used in food industries to enhance the appearance of the products, consumers should also be made aware of their toxic effects, while the government is needed to reduce further the list of permitted colours, she quoted a scientist as saying.
Prof Shahana Urooj Kazmi of the University of Karachi, while summing up the technical session, observed that carelessness towards children’s health had a great impact on the national economy as well. It should be the responsibility of the school management also to ensure the quality of food and water consumed by students at schools, she added.
At the end of seminar, a set of recommendations evolved under the project was also read out for approval of the gathering, comprising scientists, academicians, conservationists, parents and students.
As per the recommendations, there should be a ban on land disposal of waste water, damaged sanitary pipelines be replaced, an effective quality control and monitoring system be ensured, an effective waste management and disposal system be implemented, and use of natural colour be encouraged.