It is understood that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), looking at the widespread use of tea-bags has taken cognizance of the potentially harmful staple pins used in packing tea leaves in tea-bags and is seeking a ban on the pins.
It is pertinent to note that in some hotels and fast-food outlets, whenever a food item is packed in paper bags many a time the paper bag is closed with a staple pin. This is a very dangerous trend specially, when little children handle these packets.
It is also observed that during the days when the statue of Our Lady visits the homes the eatables distributed to the people in paper packets may be secured with staple pins. The staple pins can be ingested by mistake while consuming the packed food item. If ingested, the metallic staple pins can lead to injuries to the gums or internal bleeding and other resultant health complications. There needs to be a total ban on the use of staple pins in packing of food items.
A viable alternative would be to use a thread or string to close the food packet or even a rubber-band.
It is pertinent to note that in the past the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the state had asked food business operators to immediately stop the use of staple pins to pack food articles. This awareness needs to be spread among small-time street vendors and also among the faithful by the church.
