Chennai: Days after a viral video showing a young boy swooning after tasting a 'smoke biscuit', the Tamil Nadu government has appealed to the denizens not to consume such products, an official from the State's Food Department told ETV Bharat.
The government officials also urged the traders and hoteliers not to sell the 'smoke' laced biscuits and paan, considering the adverse effects it can have on the health of consumers.
A purported video from Karnataka has been doing rounds stating that a boy lost his life after consuming what was claimed to be a 'smoke biscuit', made using liquid nitrogen. It was later found that the boy who swooned in the video had been saved due to timely medical intervention.
ETV Bharat spoke to the Food Department Officials in Tamil Nadu to know whether they have taken any step to curb the sale of such substances in the state. The officials informed this portal that the liquid nitrogen's permitted use is to store items at sub-zero degree temperatures, and there cannot be any other use for this chemical other than that designated under the law. It cannot be consumed in any form, and if done, may lead to health hazards.
Appeal To Parents
The department also said it would verify whether any of the shops or hotels offer such 'products' to their customers, and would advise the shopkeepers on the ill-effects of using nitrogen as an edible. Liquid nitrogen's temperature is minus 196 degrees Celsius. The official also advised the parents not to allow their children to try such 'delicacies' and youth to stay away from 'smoke pan', which mostly is an attraction, of late, in some weddings.
Chennai District Food Safety Department Designated Officer P Satheesh Kumar said that they had issued an advisory on not to sell such products. "Children should not eat them. It should not be sold in the shops as well."
Sources said the Food Safety Department can only issue an advisory and cannot enforce the shops from selling such products. The regulation and enforcement is vested with the Health Department, which would act on a case by case basis.
Expert Speak
Dr Sagaya Prince, explaining the chemical trait of liquid nitrogen, said that the naturally available gas is put through an industrial process resulting in the production of liquid nitrogen. Its temperature will be minus 196 °C (minus 320 °F).
Therefore, it can definitely cause harm to any person who is exposed to it, the doctor who is attached to the Rela Institute here said. It will instantly freeze whatever it comes into contact with. The liquid's touch can freeze any part of our human body and the exposed part may break into pieces.
What Science Says?
According to the Utah State University, exposure to liquid nitrogen can result in extensive tissue damage or burns can result from exposure to liquid nitrogen or cold nitrogen vapours.
Being odourless, colourless, tasteless, and non-irritating, nitrogen has no warning properties. Humans possess no senses that can detect the presence of nitrogen, it warned.
Although nitrogen is non-toxic and inert, it can act as a simple asphyxiant by displacing oxygen in air to levels below that required to support life. Inhalation of nitrogen in excessive amounts can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness, and death.
If You Still Want To Eat
By Indian laws, the liquified gas can be used in the food segment and in the industrial categories. Can this be allowed in the food industry? No. It is not good for our health.
Referring to the video, the doctor said that one could see something in liquid form being added to the biscuit. "The persons in the video were seen taking and then blowing the smoke, in a glamorous way," he said.
As long as the liquid nitrogen completely evaporates, then it is completely fine. However, if a slight drop of it touches any layer of the body, then it would lead to frostbite. The contact will induce a sharp pain as it would interact with the central nervous system, and will have a cascading effect.
The doctor suggested that one has to exercise caution while consuming it, especially if those were taken by children.
He said the parents will have to ensure that there is no liquid left when it is served to the children. "If the parents are careful and the liquid has changed its state to vapour, then there is nothing to worry," he added.
