THE controversy over Maggi instant noodles has once again highlighted the issues plaguing food safety in India. Not only does the issue raise critical questions about safe food production by multinational companies such as Nestle but it also foregrounds the institutional fault lines when it comes to ensuring food safety. Frontline spoke to Sunita Narain, who heads the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the organisation instrumental in initiating...

Gujarat, which is hailed as a role model of growth and development, witnessed the lowest calorie intake per person per day in rural areas among the 17 major states of India during 2011-12. This has been revealed by the 68th round National Sample Survey report entitled Nutritional Intake in India 2011-12 (See chart 1). It can be inferred from the NSSO report that except Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, the daily...

-The Hindu However, the data says the implications are unclear Per capita calorie intake in India grew marginally for the first time in 30 years, new official data shows, and protein intake grew for the first time in over a decade. The National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO) 2011-12 data on Nutritional Intake was released earlier this week. The data shows that per capita calorie consumption rose to 2099 kilocalories per day in rural...

-Business Standard Overall food inflation measured on CPI came down to 5.59% in Oct as against 7.67% in the previous month The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation rose to 5.52% in October compared to the same period last year, its lowest rate since the government started releasing the data in February 2012. For September, CPI inflation was 6.46%, making October's numbers the third consecutive month that retail inflation has eased. According to...

-The Hindu Millets in one's diet can help prevent diabetes,says Dr. Vijay Viswanathan Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder in which a person has high blood glucose (sugar), either because of inadequate insulin production, or because the body's cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both. Prolonged exposure to diabetes damages important organs like the eye, the kidney, the heart and nerves, as the result of damage to small blood vessels. Heredity,...