GEORGE TOWN: The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) has issued a warning that papadom, a crispy thin cracker served with Indian meals, is dangerously overloaded with sodium.
As such, CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris, urged the Health Ministry to set limits for sodium content in papadom.
It also called upon the relevant authorities to direct the Royal Customs Department to monitor all papadom imports and check the sodium level.
"Consuming high amount of sodium causes high blood pressure as well as increase the risk of stroke and heart attacks, the leading causes of death and disability in our country.
“In view of the high sodium content detected in the papadom sold in the market, CAP calls on the Health Ministry to limit the sodium content in papadom.
“In the meantime, consumers should refrain from eating papadom until such limits are imposed,” he told a press conference here today.
In a laboratory test conducted by CAP on 11 samples of papadom, Idris said all the samples tested contained more than 1,000mg/100gm of sodium, of which four samples contained more than 2,000mg/100gm of sodium.
Elaborating, Idris said a papadom weighed about 13 grammes apiece.
“Assuming five pieces of papadom is consumed with each meal, you would have consumed 1,300mg of sodium from the papadom in one meal.
“If you add the sodium consumed from the other foods in the meal, you would have easily consumed more than 2,000 mg of sodium, which is the World Health Organisation (WHO) limit for the daily intake of sodium,” he added.
The Health Ministry estimates that the average Malaysian adult consumes 7.15gm of salt in a day which is above the amount recommended by (WHO).
Besides the high sodium content, Idris added that there were other health hazards such as the spices in the papadom which could cause acidity, if consumed in excess.
“While the papadom may come across as a harmless thin crunchy food item, if consumed in excess, the dough used in making the papadom can stick to the intestines causing constipation, hyperacidity and gas in some cases.
"A research has also shown that when papadom are roasted or fried, acrylamide, a probable carcinogen or cancer-causing substance, is formed due to its alkaline salt (sodium benzoate) content,” he added, noting that the ways in which the papadom were made was another concern.
“After being rolled out, the papadom are sun dried, usually in the open. They are exposed to many air pollutants.
“Also the surfaces that they are kept on while drying could have a large variety of micro organisms which can further contaminate it,” he pointed out.
Papadom is made using different types of flours and with various preservatives and additives such as artificial flavours and colours.
In the south Indian style of eating, especially for lunch, it will not be deemed complete without papadom.
It is a staple cracker in every Indian household. It is not only used to enhance the taste but also add that extra crunch to sambar (a type of dhall or lentils curry) or rasam rice.