Luke Coutinho, an integrative lifestyle expert, took to Instagram to highlight significant health concerns linked to the use of plastic containers for packing hot food. He urged popular food delivery services Swiggy and Zomato, along with their affiliated restaurants, to adopt biodegradable and non-plastic alternatives for food packaging.
Coutinho underscored the health risks associated with plastic containers, mainly when used to package hot food, in an Instagram post and wrote, “Swiggy, Zomato, Restaurants, Please work with your partners to ensure food deliveries happen in biodegradable non-plastic containers, many restaurants do this already, please make it uniform. Deliver food and health...hot food in plastic is making people sicker...You have the power to help make a change."
“People want their food on time …so restaurants will cook your order on high heat and flame, destroying most ingredients, using more refined oil as a medium for fast cooking …from pan/vessel straight into a plastic container which is immediately covered with the cover retaining immense heat and steam ….this heat as we know starts to break down the plastic into dangerous BPA and other toxins that wreck havoc with the human body and hormones, fertility, estrogens etc ..we need to move to biodegradable non plastic asap for better health and a better earth …. @swiggyindia @zomato @fssai_safefood you’ll have the power to make this change and be part of a healthier India. Respectfully request you’ll @swiggyindia @zomato and @fssai_safefood @fssai_group_of_india to work this out,” he added in the post's caption.
In reply, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal recognised Coutinho's concerns and committed to addressing them. "Thanks, Luke, for bringing this up. We will do what we can - will highlight restaurants which use food-safe packaging, so customers can make a more conscious choice," Goyal stated.
Coutinho thanked Deepinder Goyal and Zomato for their acknowledgement and proactive stance, saying, "Thank you @deepigoyal @zomato for acknowledging this and moving to action...at the end of the day it's about coming together with a vision to build a healthier country...thank you and me and my team are happy to help anytime. I wonder when @swiggyindia will decide to wake up and at least acknowledge participation."