Whenever I open a Youtube video these days, I stumble upon one of these two ads - Zomato - craving for biryani or pasta? and Kissan's "Iss bhaar Italy ghar le aate hain"
Since most of us are avoiding restaurants/takeaways, the only way to eat pasta / pizza (which we used to order B.C.) is to make them at home. Some of us might order the store bought pizza and pasta sauce, so we can quickly whip up a bowl of pasta for dinner or to satiate our kid's cravings. Some of us might even take a step further to sanitize the outer pack. Wait a second, do we sanitize the contents inside? We presume that the contents inside such packs are hygienic. But are they healthy?
Let's look at the nutrition label of Kissan's pizza and pasta sauce.
The expiry date is nine months from manufacture. How does this pack last for 9 months? Thanks to this permitted Class II Preservative - 211, also called as Sodium Benzoate.
Quoting from this research paper,
"As the result of long term intake even though it is small amount, the preservatives may cause harm to consumers within some sickness and in chromosomes level. The following adverse effects of food preservatives are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rhinitis, bronchospasm, migraine, anaphylaxis, and hyperactivity in children"
The paper talks about how sodium benzoate toxicity can result in DNA damage.
Sodium benzoate when used with foods containing Vitamin C causes the formation of benzene, a known carcinogen.
Making a marinara sauce at home for pasta or pizza is super easy. Homemade, fresh, hygienic and without any harmful preservatives. I'm sure no Italian would add a few drops of sodium benzoate to his pasta sauce. If we want to bring Italy home, let's learn the proper method of making the sauce at home and avoid these harmful shortcuts.
Let's read the nutrition labels and avoid ALL products that contain any form of class II preservatives.