RAIPUR: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department, Government of Chhattisgarh has issued an alert urging the citizens not to use newsprint for food parcels.

The advisory of FDA states that newspapers are important sources of information in daily life, due to minimum cost, newsprint/paper used for printing is often used to transport food items.

Foods are usually wrapped in newspaper as food parcels, mostly the street foods vendors. It is also used at homes to remove excess oil from deep-fried food.

Food packaging is necessary to protect food from contamination from environmental conditions, but the use of newspaper causes transfer of ink to the food. It will affect the quality and safety of the food as it is harmful to human health.

The ink used to print newspapers/papers contains harmful chemicals like di-isopropyl phthalate, dyne isopropylate and many other harmful dyes, which mix with oil and enter the body through food, the advisory points out.

It can cause various types of diseases like digestive disorders, toxicity, cancers, failure of vital organs and weakening of the immune system.

It was urged that citizens should not prefer food items covered by newsprint. They can make the vendor or shopkeeper aware of the side-effects of using the newsprint/paper.

If anyone opposes or does not agree to it even after repeated persuasion, the Office of Food and Drug Administration of the concerned district can be contacted to register the information.