One in three mothers is concerned about the safety and quality of food she provides her family. This was one of the findings of ‘Conversations with Mothers’, a survey commissioned by Tetra Pak which is one of the world’s leading food processing and packaging solutions providers and undertaken by Research Pacific.
The findings included extremely low awareness towards serious ailments due to the consumption of unsafe food and beverages; the fact that only 40% of mothers read nutritional information and ingredients, and that the majority misses out on some basic checks; the fact that 6 out of 10 mothers believe that boiling does not lower that nutritional value of food and the fact almost half the mothers consume loose juice despite finding it unhygienic.
The findings of the survey, was released on the occasion of World Food Day (October 16, 2014) gave Tetra Pak the impetus to launch Right to Keep Food Safe, an awareness programme that would empower mothers with knowledge and facts on food safety and nutrition and motivate them to spread the word to many more mothers.
An integral part of the programme is Nutrition Quotient (NQ), a first-of-its-kind online course on food safety, nutrition and packaging that has been developed by experts from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the Indian Dietetic Association, the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) and the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN).
Sumit Khatter, Marketing Director, South Asia, Tetra Pak, said, “The survey shows that while mothers are quite concerned about the food and beverages they consume, there is a clear need for them to have easy access to better information and, consequently, exercise the right choices. Tetra Pak’s vision is to make food safe and available everywhere for everyone, through our aseptic processing and packaging technology which keeps food safe, right up to consumption. As a responsible industry player, we are proud to launch the Right to Keep Food Safe campaign and the NQ programme, so that mothers can become more aware and make safer and healthier choices for their families,” he added.