By Pramila Krishnan From Deccan Chronicle

Chennai: Fourteen per cent of school children carry hot lunch in plastic tiffin boxes, their parents regarding this a handy and stylish thing to do. A study, conducted by the Consumer Association of India (CAI) and Business School, University of Sydney, Australia, in 25 schools, both government and private, by checking students’ meals and containers, brought this fact to light. Nutritionists and food safety experts say that it’s unhealthy to pack hot food in plastic boxes. “Metal tiffin boxes are the best for carrying food,” they said.

G.Santhanarajan, principal of Concert food and drug-testing lab, said, “When hot food or water is stored in a plastic container, Biphenol-A, a chemical, is released from plastic as it reacts to the heat. This chemical disrupts the functioning of the endocrine glands in the body. Continuous exposure to Biphenol-A is one of the factors leading to hypothyroid disorder.”

He added that during the survey, principals of many city schools learnt about the disadvantages of plastic tiffin boxes and told their students to switch to metal. He said that it was safe to AVOID plastic spoons, plates and water bottles.

According to the study, some parents packed pizzas, burgers, noodles and other fried junk food items for their children’s lunch. “We observed the lunch boxes of 300 children for one week. We learnt that only five per cent of children buy food from shops or hotels for lunch. A majority of children bring food prepared by their mothers or grandmothers.

In some cases, parents pack junk food for lunch because they couldn’t cook fresh food in the morning as they were  rushing to work,” said Nirmala Desikan of CAI. She added that only 28 out of 2,941 food items which they observed over the week, had fruits and vegetables.

While 84 per cent of children enjoyed home-cooked food, 0.4 per cent disliked lunch from home. Fifteen per cent of children were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. They said they had no other option but to eat what was given to them as they couldn’t afford to have tasty food items, said CAI members.

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