FDA Mumbai instructs vendors, shopkeepers to stop using newspapers for wrapping food as ink can be toxic

The Food and Drug Administration of Maharashtra has given strict instructions to shopkeepers, street vendors, sweet shops, and bakery owners in Mumbai not to use newspapers for wrapping food items. The FDA directed that the ink used in the newspaper is hazardous to customers.

Mumbaikars' favorite street food like Vada Pav, Poha, Samosa, Jalebi is usually served by vendors in a newspaper. This is a very old way of serving and parceling food.

According to FDA, when newspaper ink is applied to hot food, many harmful chemicals like lead naphthalamines, aromatic carbon are consumed with the food, which increases the risk of heart, lung, liver, and many neurological diseases.

In such a situation, the Food and Drug Administration has asked these shopkeepers and vendors to find another option instead of a newspaper.

The directive follows a 1718 vendor inspection by the FDA when it was found that vendors often wrapped food in newspapers in Mumbai.