EAT RIGHT MELA

Related Topic in KAS Prelims Syllabus:

Science and Techology [Paper-II]: Public Health and Community Medicine, Health Care

News

• Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare inaugurated the second edition of the ‘Eat Right Mela’ at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi.
• The theme of the event is ‘Heathier Diets.’ The mela is a part of the Eat Right Movement.

Eat Right Mela

• Eat Right Mela of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an outreach activity for citizens to nudge them towards eating right.
• It aims at encouraging people to have healthier diets which will help in reduction of the disease burden in the country.
• The first Eat Right Mela was launched in New Delhi in December, 2018.

The PURPLE Book

• Union Minister also launched ‘The PURPLE Book’ a handbook on diets for diseases.
• The book provides general guidelines for hospitals on suitable diets for common medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, gut disorders and so on in a simple format and has been developed and vetted by experts in the field of food and nutrition.

NetSCoFAN (Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition)

• It is a network of research & academic institutions working in the area of food & nutrition along with the NetSCoFAN directory, covering detailed information of various heads/Directors and lead scientists of lead and associated partnering institutions.
• It would comprise of eight groups of institutions working in different areas viz. biological, chemical, nutrition & labelling, food of animal origin, food of plant origin, water & beverages, food testing, and safer & sustainable packaging.
• FSSAI has identified eight Nodal Institutions who would develop a ‘Ready Reckoner’ that will have inventory of all research work, experts and institutions and would carry out and facilitate research, survey and related activities.
• It would identify research gaps in respective areas and collect, collate and develop database on food safety issues for risk assessment activities.

What is Eat Right Movement?

• It is a movement launched by FSSAI to improve public health in India and combat negative nutritional trends to fight lifestyle diseases.
• The movement which was launched on 10th July, 2018 aims to cut down salt/sugar and oil consumption by 30% in three years.
• This movement is aligned with the government’s flagship public health programmes such as POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anaemia Mukt Bharat, Ayushman Bharat Yojana and Swachh Bharat Mission.
• FSSAI has put in place robust regulatory measures under three major pillars: Eat Safe, Eat Health and Eat Sustainably for the programme.
• FSSAI has prescribed a limit for Total Polar Compounds (TPC) at 25% in cooking oil to avoid the harmful effects of reused cooking oil.

Significance

• There has been a shift in the cause of mortality from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and cancer, not only in India, but also across the world.
• The four main factors to prevent non-communicable diseases are healthy diet, physical exercise, avoidance of tobacco and alcohol.
• Thus, the message of ‘Eat Right’ is of great significance and should be promoted everywhere.