Prefer steel ka dabba over other tiffin boxes, says doctor

Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, September 23

Packing food in the right kind of tiffin is as important as the nutritious value of a meal. The food and nutrition department of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) had put up a stall explaining the same on the concluding day of the Kissan Mela. Not only farmers but also the locals were seen enquiring about the same from the stall. 

Sonika Sharma, assistant professor, food and nutrition department, said that tiffin formed an important part of a child’s school life. Packing the tiffin in the right manner was of utmost important and equal importance should be paid to it. “People should return back to yesteryear ‘steel ka dabba’ for packing tiffin. It is the best option as plastic is harmful and has been shown to leach the harmful harmone-disrupting chemical into food items after repeated use,” she said. “Lunch should be packed in a cloth napkin and never in an aluminium foil as it has cancerous properties,” she added. 

Jyoti Vohra, Phd student, informed the visitors that during they had found microbial contamination of the food which is packed in a plastic tiffin and in overnight prepared vegetable packed for the next day. “Fresh vegetable should be prepared in the morning, should be packed in a cloth napkin and tiffin should be cleaned as soon the child comes back from school. Fresh cloth napkin should be used everyday to pack lunch,” she said.