Very informative article sir.Gopalakrishnan
On Monday, 29 January, 2024 at 12:10:10 pm IST, 'venkat giri' via
KeralaIyers <[email protected]> wrote:
Respected Sir/s,
SUBJECT:VARK…..SILVER FOIL
VARK is a finefiligree foil sheet of pure metal, typically silver but sometimes
gold, used todecorate South Asian sweets and food. The silver and gold are
edible, thoughflavourless. VARKis made by pounding silver into sheets less than
one micrometre (μm) thick, typically0.2–0.8 μm. The silver sheets are
typicallypacked between layers of paper for support; this paper is peeled away
beforeuse.It is fragile and breaks into smaller pieces if handled with direct
skincontact. Leaf that is 0.2 μm thick tends tostick to skin if handled
directly.
VARK sheets are laidor rolled over some South Asian sweets, confectionery, dry
fruits and spices.It is also placed onto mounds of saffron rice on platters.
For safety and ethical reasons, thegovernment of India has issued food
safety and product standards guidelines formanufacturers of silver foil.
Product
Silver-coatedspices
Manufacturing
VARK is made by placing the puremetal dust between parchment sheets, then
pounding the sheets until the metaldust moulds into a foil,[5] usually less
than one micrometre (μm) thick,typically 0.2–0.8 μm. The sheets are typically
packed with paper for support; thispaper is peeled away before use. It
generally takes 2 hours to pound the silverparticles into foils.
Particles were traditionally manually pounded between the layers ofox gut
or cow hides. It is easier to separate the silver leaf from the animal
tissuethan to separate it from the paper. Due to the concerns of the
vegetarianpopulation of India, manufacturers have switched to the modern
technologiesthat have evolved for the production of silver leaves in India,
Germany, Russiaand China. Modern technologies include beating over sheets of
black specialtreated paper or polyester sheets coated with food grade calcium
powder(nicknamed "German plastic") are used instead of ox-guts or cow hide.Old
City in Hyderabad used to be the hub of traditional manual manufacturing,where
it is a dying trade.
Usage as food
The silver is edible,though flavourless. It is also
commonly used in Pakistan, India, and Bangladeshas coating on sweets, dry
fruits, and in sugar balls, betel nuts, cardamom, andother spices. Estimated
consumption of VARK is 275 tonsannually.
Using edible silver and gold foilson sweets, confectionery and
desserts is not unique to the Indian subcontinent;other regions such as Japan
and Europe have long used precious metal foils asfood cover and also
decoration, including specialty drinks such as DanzigerGoldwasser.
VEGETARIAN ETHICAL ISSUES
Concerns have beenraised about the ethical acceptability and food
safety of VARK, as not all of it is pure silver, nor hygienically prepared,
andthe foil was until fairly recently beaten between layers of ox-gut because
itis easier to separate the silver leaf from animal tissue than to separate
itfrom paper. Due to the grinding effect of the hammering, some of the
animalintestine becomes part of the silver foil, which is sold in bulk. Since
Jains and a considerable percentage of Hindus arevegetarian, this led to the
decline in the usage of vark in sweets or suparis. Indian Airlines asked its
caterers to not apply VARK to the food supplied to ensure no animal intestineis
present.[
In 2016, Government of India banned the usage of animal guts or skinsin
the making of VARK. Consequently, the Indian market for VARK has mostly
converted to using themachine-based vegetarian process in the making of the
silver foils. Food Safetyand Standards Authority of India has issued guidelines
for the silver leafmanufactures to adhere to regarding thickness, weight,
purity, labelling andhygiene of the silver leaf.
SAFETY
Gold andsilver are approved food foils in the European Union, as
E175 and E174additives respectively. The independent European food-safety
certificationagency, TÜV Rhineland, has deemed gold leaf safe for consumption.
Gold andsilver leaves are also certified as kosher. These inert precious metal
foilsare not considered toxic to human beings nor to broader ecosystems.
Largequantities of ingested bioactive silver can cause argyria, but the use
ofedible silver or gold as VARK isnot considered harmful to the body, since the
metal is in inert form (not ionicbioactive form), and the quantities involved
in normal use are minuscule.
One study has found that about 10% of178 foils studied from the Lucknow
(India) market were made of aluminium. Ofthe tested foils, 46% of the samples
were found to have the desired purityrequirement of 99.9% silver, whereas the
rest had less than 99.9% silver. Allthe tested Indian foils contained on
average trace levels of nickel (487 ppm),lead (301 ppm), copper (324 ppm),
chromium (83 ppm), cadmium (97 ppm) andmanganese (43 ppm). All of these are
lower than natural anthropogenic exposuresof these metals; the authors suggest
there is a need to address a lack ofpurity standards in European Union and
Indian food additive grade silver. Thetotal silver metal intake per kilogram of
sweets eaten, from VARK, is less thanone milligram.
Sweets that seem to be coated with silver foilcould be adulterated with
aluminium. This dangerous metal accumulates withinthe body tissues and also
causes severe damage by entering the brain. If consumed by a pregnantwoman,
aluminium can harm the placenta and foetus. Always buy sweets from a reliable
source.
All that glitters is not healthy.
Actuallysome sweet shops apply silver over sweets and it is digestible without
any sideeffects.
Butnow days, most of the sweets coated by aluminium instead of sliver
fordecorative purpose which is not digestible by human gastrointestinal system.
Inlong run if one consumes aluminium, it leads to potential health problems. So
Iadvise to remove coat with nails and eat.
FSSAIshould look into the samples and stringent action should be taken on such
sweetmanufacturers who use aluminium instead of silver.
Aluminiumespecially causes potential danger in children …
The process used in manufacturing this silver foil may leave somemild traces of
blood and flesh on the foil. This can be extremely unhygienicand unhealthy.
Further, using silver foil can result in some health issues. If theintestine of
an infected animal is used while preparing the silver foil,chances of the
disease spreading are there. In fact, staunch vegetarians wouldprobably baulk
at the idea of having this silver foil on the sweets theyconsume. Think about
it: if one is a vegetarian, would anybody will like the idea ofanimal saliva,
blood, and stools touching the sweets that one eats??????
It is very difficult to check the quality of the silver foil used
insweets that are commercially prepared. Moreover, more often than not,
peoplecompromise on the quality of these foils and use aluminium instead of
silver.Sometimes, contaminants such as copper, lead, and manganese are used as
well tosave on costs.
Some of the negative effects of consumingsilver.
· Throat and lunglesions
· Abdominalpain
· Infections
The FSSAI, by a notification of July 15,2016, had banned the use of the silver
leaf manufactured by the traditionalmethod, which involved use of intestine of
a cow or buffalo, saying it wasunhygienic and there was a risk of infection and
contamination of the silverleaf.
Silver foil-coatedsweets are still very popular in
West Bengal). But, here some people claim thateating sweets coated in silver is
harmless, while others vehemently disagree.
So, to get the exact answer, I read manyjournals and articles, and here I will
share what I have found.
Inearly the 90s, one could have seen anadvertisement for Lifebuoy
soap featuring Ajay Devgan, in which he explained toKajol the importance of
using a silver foil wrapper (chandi ka warq) on sweets.In addition to its
antimicrobial properties, silver foil (VARAK)also enhances the visual
appearance of certain sweets, such as Kaju Katli andGULAB Jamun.
Now, jump to the direct answer- Yes, it is safe to eat sweets
coatedwith silver foil if it ismade up of 99.99% pure silver.
Remember, there is no provenhealth benefit of consuming silver coated sweet.
Is the edible silver foil commonly used in India as toppings on
sweetsmade of animal remains?
No. Silver foil or Varq is not made ofanimal remains but may be made with the
superficial help of ox intestine.
It is made by keeping a small piece of silver in between layers of oxgut
(intestines) tissue and then beaten to get a very, very thin layer ofsilver
foil. Gold particles are also beaten so to get gold sheets to spread onour
sweets, biryani and other foods.
The silver may not be puresilver and the ox gut may not be washed as a touch of
warm fresh gut makesbeating of the malleable metal much better. Usually
intestines of thejust then slaughtered bull are removed as quickly as possible
and sold to thefoil makers so that they can be used at once. Oldintestines
stiffen and cannot be used for uniform beating of the foil. Thetraders say they
stopped using ox parts and are using polyester and papersheets but no one knows
the trade secrets.
This silver layer that you see on theIndian sweets is the silverwork
that is been made to just enhance the beauty ofthe sweets.
The process which is used to make the
silverwork for years was,to use animal gut(intestine of goat or buffalo or any
animal) and they beat theintestine of any such animal and place some silver
sheets, which forms thesilver layer which is your silver vark.
That is placed on the sweets.
That is why some people avoideating the sweets which have the silver work on
it as it has used non-veg tomake that sheet.
After this practice, thegovernment of India placed a ban on the production of
these sheets in 2016, butagain due to a huge loss in jobs and employment, which
lead to potentially aloss of money in this sector, the government reversed the
ban andallowed this practice to continue.
Which also lead to theproduction of vegetarian Vark, which is again prepared
via machine?
All in all this silver vark has no specialnutrients to offer to our body,
it is just a thin layer which is used toenhance the beauty and temptation of
the sweets.
----
Regards
V.Sridharan
Trichy
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