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Chocolate and Health: It is generally believed that dark chocolate is good for health. But within limits. Chocolate is made from cocoa. The flavonoids and antioxidants present in it have many health benefits, but the question is whether health is taken care of when chocolate is made in factories. Let us know how much care is taken of cleanliness and hygiene while making chocolate.
Chocolate and Health: Chocolate is present in our daily life. There is hardly anyone who has not eaten chocolate. Well, dark chocolate has many benefits. It is made from cocoa. According to health experts, dark chocolate contains many types of antioxidants which reduce oxidative stress by removing free radicals from the body. Due to this oxidative stress, inflammation occurs in the cells and many types of diseases occur. Therefore, chocolate reduces bad cholesterol by preventing damage to cells and boosts brain health. This also improves blood circulation. But the question is whether the chocolate that reaches us is healthy or is hygiene taken care of while making it. When we asked the same question to Kunwar Hemant Singh, Head of National Corporate Affairs of Nestle, the world’s largest chocolate company, he gave important information regarding the hygiene of chocolate.
How healthy is the raw material of chocolate?
Kunwar Hemant Singh told that you all know that Nestle is the world’s largest food and beverage company. In this way, it is our responsibility to make the world’s best chocolate available to the people. We make more than 2000 products including KitKat and high quality hygiene is maintained in all of them. Raw material is strictly monitored at every stage. Whatever raw material we buy, we buy it from FSSAI licensed vendors only. There are many types of tests in this. We buy only those goods which are of high quality. The rest are rejected. For example, if we want to buy wheat or cocoa, we buy it only from those whose quality is as per Indian standards. After this, when this raw material comes to the factory, we examine it thoroughly. We test it on 40 parameters from raw material to packaging stage of chocolate. In every way we ensure that the raw material does not cause any health related problems.
Necessary to go through various regulations
To ensure that chocolate does not have any adverse effect on health, approval has to be taken from various autonomous monitoring bodies. To check whether chocolate is healthy or not, the standards of Local Food Safety and Standard Regulation (FSSAI) are followed. For this, this organization conducts in-depth chemical testing of chocolate. After passing this standard it is certified by Food Safety Management Standards. Nestle has received ISO 9001:2015 certificate to stand 100% on this standard. In the laboratory of the same factory, research is always going on regarding the effect of the product on health. For this, this laboratory has received certificate from NABL. The laboratory always ensures that chocolate or other products do not have even the slightest adverse effect on health.
How to understand that chocolate will not cause any health problems
There is a process of making chocolate in a factory. In the factory there are automatic machines within a radius of about 500 to 700 meters. There are many stages in making chocolate. First of all, a solution is prepared in cocoa with various ingredients at a favorable temperature. After this it reaches the block of chocolate. A certain amount of solution is poured into these blocks and the chocolate takes shape here. After this it progresses at a fixed temperature and then its times vary. After this, a layer of foil is automatically applied on the chocolate and finally it is packaged. This process continues within a radius of 500-700 meters and the machine is completely covered with glass. That means there is no question of anything going inside. All the employees inside the factory are only in uniform. Apart from this they have nothing. It is prohibited to carry any kind of belt, metal items, coins etc. into the factory. While working, everyone covers their entire body with a special kind of mask. Such automatic detectors are installed in the machine that as soon as some extra things go inside the chocolate, it starts making a sound and at that moment the machine is stopped and the entire lot of that product is removed. Then the machine would be cleaned. After all this the process is started again. If seen this way, a lot of attention is paid to the hygiene of chocolate in big companies.
How long is chocolate safe for?
Kunwar Hemant Singh told that manufacturing date, time, shift etc. is given on each of our products. Along with this, there is also a best before use or expiry date on the packet. If any person eats this chocolate for that period, he will not suffer any harm. If the product is in expiry date then we dump it in standard way.
