Kerala - Kochi   

Quality control sought for ‘oushadha kanji’

Photo: Vipinchandran

Kerala special: Foreign tourists tasting the herbs-mixed rice gruel at a private Ayurveda centre in Kochi. —

KOCHI: ‘Oushadha kanji,’ the herbs-mixed rice gruel used traditionally as a recuperative diet, particularly in the monsoon month of Karkkidakam, badly needs a dose of quality control, according to Kallara Mohandas, human rights activist and general secretary of the Kerala Ayurveda Thozhilali Union.

He says that the gruel is overexploited commercially and marketed aggressively as a cure-all Ayurvedic concoction. “Come Karkkidakam, all sorts of individuals and companies come out with different sorts of oushadha kanji,” Mr. Mohandas said. The credibility and image of Ayurveda was being misused for promoting these products, he complained.

The manufacturers usually do not mention the ingredients of their products and how these products promoted good health. One company had recently launched its version of oushadha kanji claiming that it contained extracts of over 40 different herbs, he noted. “The common man, who believes that Ayurveda can always be trusted and will not cause any side-effects are duped by these manufacturers,” Mr. Mohandas said. He pointed out that there were over 1,300 Ayurvedic drug companies in Kerala.

He said he had complained to the Controller of Drugs, but was told that with the existing laws there was no way to check the proliferation of oushadha kanji products.

Mr. Mohandas wanted the government to come out with a new law to check the commercial exploitation of the gruel and the ruining of the reputation of Ayurveda. “A strict law for quality control is needed to check the abuse of this traditional diet therapy,” he said.

He also noted that oushadha kanji kits were being sold at exorbitant prices. Some five-star hotels were selling it at upwards of Rs.200 a glass, Mr. Mohandas said.

The Karkkidaka (oushadha) kanji had originated as an alternative diet of the poor as there was not enough rice available for them in the raining month of Karkkidakam when jobs were not easy to come by for the village poor. To compensate for the shortage of rice in the gruel, herbs of high nutritional value, which were available free of cost, were used. Those days, Mr. Mohandas said, Karkkidaka kanji was hands-off for the landlords and the well-off. It was only a century or so ago that the oushadha kanji was used as a recuperative and rejuvenation diet. It became a fashionable health diet only recently.

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