Largest chunk of food spend in West Bengal on processed items: Survey

Kolkata: The average person in Bengal uses the largest chunk of monthly food expenditure on processed food and beverages, with an urban resident spending Rs 25 and a rural resident Rs 20 per every Rs 100 on this category.

Bengal's spend on this category, more than double the national average, has rung alarm bells among experts, most of whom agree that regular consumption of processed food is linked to a variety of health risks, including cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The data was given out in the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), under the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MSPI).

While the range of processed food and beverage consumption in Bengal was between 21 per cent and 25 per cent , the national average on these categories is 9.6 per cent . The next highest spend in Bengal is on fish and meat - 18.9 per cent - in both rural and urban Bengal. Only Kerala has a higher household consumption of fish and meat. The next category is vegetables (10.8 per cent in urban areas and 12.6 per cent in rural expenditure). The fourth biggest expenditures is on milk and milk products: 9.6 per cent (urban) and 7.4 per cent (rural). Fruit consumption is extremely poor, accounting for only 7.5 per cent of urban and 6.8 per cent of rural spend.

Higher consumption of processed food and beverages can lead to people eating more than the recommended amounts of sugar, salt and fat, as they may not be aware of how much of these substances are added to the food they are buying and eating," said nutritionist Anamika Basu. "These foods can also be higher in calories because of the high amounts of added sugar or fat in them."

Proportion-wise, cereals dominate the consumption pattern of Bengal. The monthly per capita consumption of cereals in rural Bengal is 11.2 kg, the highest in the country. In urban Bengal, it is 9.2 kg, the fourth-highest among Indian states.

In rural Bengal, cereal consumption is dominated by rice (81.7 per cent ) and the only variation is wheat (18.2 per cent ), while in urban Bengal, the dominance of rice is a little lower at 74 per cent , though there's more consumption of wheat: 25.9 per cent . There is hardly any coarse cereals on the platter of Bengal, the survey revealed.

However, the percentage of expenditure on cereals is only 13 per cent and 11.4 per cent for an average rural and urban buyer.

The monthly per capita expenditure (MCPE) analysis also hinted at lower spending capacity by farmers who grow foodgrain, principally rice. The monthly per capita expenditure of a self-employed person in the agriculture sector is Rs 3,234, while a self-employed person in the non-agri sector spends Rs 3,641. The MCPE of a salaried man in the agri sector is Rs 2,904, while that person's counterpart in the non-agri sector spends Rs 3,919.