Unhygienic food, a risky compromise with health

More Bangaloreans are today opting to eat outside food, a trend that is bound to affect their immunity.

Thanks to the unhygienic way in which most of this food is cooked, doctors warn of a spike in health issues.  Here’s one medical observiation on this trend: According to Dr Priyanka Rahatgi, Chief Clinical Nutritionist, Apollo hospitals, over the past ten years, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of wheat intolerance and milk intolerance cases. “Food is cooked in very unhygienic conditions. The cloth used for filtering and cleaning when greasy is a potential medium for most infectious bacteria to grow,” she explains.

Patients with these allergies show typical symptoms such as nausea, bloating in the stomach, uneasiness and also a combination of constipation and diarrhea, the nutritionist explains. When the already cooked food is just sprinkled with water and heated, it will lead to serious complications. “In most cases, the water used is impure and contains germs. It is a good trigger for typhoid and hepatitis infections. The potential immunity gradually goes down,” she says. Simply put, this makes one more susceptible to gastro-intestinal infections.

Dr  Karthik Nagesh,  Head of neo-natal Pediatricis, Manipal Hosptital points out that since the food is contaminated, it will lead to sickness and infections, mostly gastro-intestinal. Partially cooked food and food contaminated with water is potential carriers of germs. “It is always advisable to eat food that is well-cooked. Avoiding eating anything raw is good,” he suggests.

For a child to develop its immunological maturity and battle small problems on an everyday basis, it would at least take three and a half years, explains the doctor. “It is better if the parents avoid taking it outside and instead, have home cooked food.” A regular health checkup, he says, could possibly improve the conditions. “ There has to be a strict policy followed when they even recruit people in hotels. The so called cooks who are also the food handlers themselves might be carriers of virulent germs like shigella and salmonella,” he says. These employees might not show symptoms of any disease, However, it they are untidy, there is always a possibility that they carry germs in their hands and finger nails, eventually passing them on to the customers.