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More Indians turning non-vegetarian
The country of Ahisma and Buddha is fast converting into non-vegetarian with eating out becoming a norm, rather than an exception.About 64 per cent of Indians are now meat eaters as compared to just 46 per cent in early 1990s. And, this phenomenon is not restricted to big cities but has spread to smaller towns, the nationwide survey conducted by National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, has found. The Chief Investigator of the study Dr Kalpagam Polasa of NIN told Hindustan Times that majority of Indians (about 64 per cent) prefer non-vegetarian food. Except north Indian where only 40.4 per cent people eat non-veg food, in other regions the majority are meat eaters. The percentage is over 90 per cent in the southern region, she said. The maximum increase has been witnessed in the southern India especially in smaller towns of Tamil Nadu. Meat eating is as high as 98 per cent in some parts of Tamil Nadu, she said. Second to south is the western region but it has lowest hygiene awareness except in Gujarat. Not only the number even periodicity appears to have increased. While most non-vegetarians prefer eating meat twice a week, the periodicity is as high as four to six days a week for some in coastal belt of southern India. It is most common in areas where fish is easily available and is cheaper than the vegetarian food. The survey conducted over a period of two years in collaboration with AIIMS, Irwin Medical College and Tata Institute of Social Sciences has found that in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkatta majority of families prefer eating out, mainly on weekends. Polasa said the trend is increasing at a healthy rate while admitting that it can be due to increase in per capita income in cities. Delhi, for instance, has seen per capital income rising from Rs 18,000 in 1993-94 to 24,450, double the national average. Similar jumps have been witnessed in per capita income of cities like Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Indore, Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkatta, according to latest NSSO report. The information was generated through questionnaire to mothers in 21,000 households of the 82 districts in 28 states. We targeted mothers as they are chief guardian of food and their knowledge of food safety determines health of a family, Polasa explained. Like most mothers, the National Food Safety study found that Indian mothers prefer cooking fresh meal twice a day, an indication towards their sincerity towards their familys health. However, on the good health practices rating Gujarat earned the top slot, courtesy the good food safety knowledge of the mothers. The knowledge didnt appear to have percolated in the neighboring Maharashtra, which recorded highest rate of illiteracy (25 per cent) regarding save food practices. In the region wise comparison, food safety awareness was high in the northeastern states as compared to north and southern India. Irrespective of food quality awareness or not, there appears to be national unanimity that cause of most water borne diseases is bad quality of tap water. Some practices of water filtration noted during study were not found to be safe, she said, while referring to usage of cloth for water filtration. The study looks into many nutritional aspects with an idea to develop a knowledge base on food safety, institutes director Dr B Sesikeran, noted. For the first time data base on Indians eating habits, food safety practices and consumer habits have been recorded in the three volume report, he said. And, the information will now be used to develop region wise awareness material. We will conduct another survey in few years to analyse its impact, Polasa said. Posted by: john 2006-10-24 |
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