Despite the ban imposed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in 2016 on the use of newspapers for wrapping and serving food, the practice is still being continued in Coimbatore. Several tea stalls and bakeries continue to use newspaper pieces to serve snacks, especially popular deep-fried items such as vadais and bajjis. While the shop owners say that newspapers are the cheapest wrapping and serving material, which also absorbs oil, most of them claim ignorance of its ill-effects. Siraj Uddin, a vendor at Marakkadai junction, claimed ignorance of the potential toxicity of using newspapers to pack food, stating that purchasing plain paper covers would not be financially viable for him. Although food safety and civic body officials had cautioned him against using plastic covers, they failed to inform him about the dangers of using newspapers as food covers, he said. A worker of a bakery at Prakasam bus stop was surprised to learn about the toxicity of newspaper ink, claiming that no one had told him about the potential risks associated with this practice. As per the advisory issued by the FSSAI in 2016 banning the practice, food contaminated by newspaper ink raises serious health concerns since the ink contains multiple bioactive materials with known negative health effects. It says that printing ink may also contain harmful colours, pigments, binders, additives and preservatives and the pathogenic microorganisms in used newspapers pose potential risk to human health. According to Coimbatore-based gastroenterologist V.G. Mohan Prasad, though the paper itself is made of cellulose, the bio-active coloured pigments used as ink for printing are aromatic hydrocarbons which are fat soluble and might be absorbed by oil which is used for frying bajjis and bondas. “This may be carcinogenic causing lung, gastrointestinal and bladder cancer, if eaten habitually. The delivery of newspapers by itself is not hygienic and mostly manhandled. They might also be sourced from various places and hygienically, unsuitable for food packaging. They may contain Ecoli bacteria, fungi and mould leading to gut health issues,” he said. M. Karthikeyan, vice-president of the Coimbatore Bakery Owners’ Welfare Association, said food safety officers had given them awareness about the harmful effects of using newspapers for packing and serving food in a meeting held three years ago. “There are around 240 bakeries registered with the association and no member bakery is using newspapers to cover foods. Street food vendors, who are not part of the association, might not know about this harmful practice,” he said. K. Tamilselvan, designated officer of FSSAI in Coimbatore, said use of newspapers for wrapping and serving snacks and other food items is being checked by food safety officials when they inspect shops. “Since the practice is banned, spot-fine is issued to violators besides educating them about its side effects. They are also advised to use alternatives such as tissue paper, paper plates and banana leaf,” he said.
