India, Aug. 30 -- On a visit to the Wieliczka salt mine in Krakow, Poland, this author was told salt was called white gold in medieval Europe due to its vital role in food preservation, making salt mines an incredibly rich and strategic asset.

The rotten meat scandal in Kashmir, exposed during regular food safety inspections this month, highlighted poor monitoring, dishonest suppliers, and betrayal of Kashmiris' trust in the meat used in their favourite wazwan, kebabs, and mutton curries.

Food scandals involve fraud (deception about food quality, composition, adulteration, mislabelling, misrepresenting origin, or selling products as "organic" when they are not), contamination, or poor hygiene and safety practices during production, proc...