Are we consuming carcinogenic hoppers?

Last Saturday, my daughter showed me an article in a Sinhala tabloid and wanted me to share the information contained therein with the readers of the English newspapers. It was mentioned in this article that the whitish looking hoppers are made by adding Plaster of Paris to the hopper mixture. It also said, the addition of this chemical makes the edges of the hoppers stiffer. It has been found that Plaster of Paris is added not only for plain hoppers but also to jaggery/ sweet hoppers as well. It is so with egg-hoppers. So, we are consuming Plaster of Paris when we eat these hoppers. What is the end result? Doctors have said that the liver gets infected and this could be one of the main reasons for gastritis. Consumers will finally end up being afflicted with cancer as per this article.

I hope that the Ministry of Health through Public Health Inspectors will carry out frequent inspections of food outlets to ensure this doesn’t happen and if caught using this chemical or even any other form of adulteration, prosecute the owner and cancel the licence(if any).The media also should carry out a campaign to educate the masses as to how the consumers could identify whether harmful additives are present in any food items and to whom this information should be communicated with the name of the officer, contact numbers /email address or postal address so that immediate punitive action could be taken against the owner of the food outlet. Mohamed Zahran

Colombo 3