Silver Foil on Sweets 

Many Hindu festivals include the distribution and consumption of sweets ranging from Deepavali to weddings.  Often times, the enticing sweets are covered have a thin silver foil lining.  You may also see this silver lining on paan, and sometimes even on fruits in Indian markets.  While this decorative addition sometimes makes the food visually attractive, once you learn where it comes from, it may quickly make it repulsive.

What you may not know is that this silver foil is produced in part using the intestine of cows!

How Silver Foil is Made

Formally referred to as “varak”, “varakh” or “waraq (ورق)” in Arabic, the silver foil sheets are made by hammering thin sheets of silver sandwiched between intestines of a freshly slaughtered bull cow.  The manufacturing process works as follows:

• A bull cow is slaughtered.  Bulls must be used because their intestines are strong enough to withstand repeated hammering described later in the process.
• The intestines are quickly removed from the bull.  After a day, the intestines are of no use for the production of silver foil.  Only fresh intestines can be used.
• Blood and stool are removed from the intestines to reduce the risk of contaminating the food and sweets that the foil will be used on.
• The foil is then sliced into square pieces, and a small booklet with pages made from intestines is created.
• Sheets of silver are placed between every page of the booklet.
• The booklet is then hammered intensely until the silver sheets are turned into silver wafers. By now some of the intestinal tissue has mixed with the silver sheets.
• The sheets are then sold to food manufacturers such as sweet shops.
• The silver foil is applied to sweets.

Why are the intestines of cows used in this process?  It’s because of the elasticity of the intestines, combined with the its compressive strength.

Why Silver Foil is Bad

Here are three reasons why you (and others for that matter) should not consumed foods with silver foil:

Contamination risk. Most varakh is produce by low income parts of the Muslim community in Hyderabad, India.  A packet of 160 silver foils costs about Rs. 200, or USD $4. Under such conditions and pricing structure, the thorough decontamination of the intestines prior to hammering is not feasible.  As a result, ultimately, some of the intestinal tissue, fecal matter, and blood will ultimately get mixed with the silver foil, posing a health risk to the sweet consumer.

Silver Poisoning. The American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned against the routine consumption of silver:

According to a 1992 report by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, silver can be harmful to humans if eaten in more than a miniscule amount. The report said that if more than .005mg/kg are consumed per day, silver can cause lung and throat lesions, and can spark infections and abdominal pain. It can also turn the skin gray-blue or black in a condition called argyria. It is often difficult for people to know how much silver they can have in their bodies, because it’s a so-called bio-accumulative metal. Once consumed, silver lodges in body fat or the nervous system for life. So, if a child swallowed silver foil, the amount of silver in the decoration would stay in the body, building up to potentially more toxic levels with any other silver the person knowingly or unknowingly consumed throughout lifetime, including dietary silver that is naturally consumed through natural foods. (Source)

Forget the fact that cows, and cow body parts are part of the silver foil.  The foil itself, regardless of how its manufactured poses a health risk.  Particularly to children where silver stays in the body for life.  Along a similar vein of research, silver tooth fillings are claimed by some scientists to pose a health risk.  If a silver filing does indeed cause a health risk, imagine what eating silver would do to your body.

Killing of Cows & Consumption of Cow Meat. Nearly universally, all Hindus consider the killing of cows to be sacrilegious, and furthermore the consumption of cow meat accumulates bad karma.  Regardless of your own health risks, all ethically conscious Hindus should not consume, or facilitate the consumption of silver foil on foods.

How to Avoid Silver Foil

Avoiding the consumption of silver foil may be difficult, especially because most Hindus are not aware of how its made, and because it is often present in festive social occasions.

Here’s a few tips on how to handle such situations:

• Don’t buy, or gift silver foiled sweets yourself. If you are holding a function in your home or temple, or are planning a wedding, you have control over what gets served at the function.  It’s your responsibility to make sure the caterer does not serve silver foiled sweets.  Even if you will not be consuming them yourself, you are responsible for the facilitation of it.
• Don’t consume it even at social functions. Abstain from silver foiled food preparations.  If you are at a wedding, and they are passing prasad around which does contain silver foil, to not refuse the prasad and not embarass the host, you can take the sweet, but eat from the bottom where the silver foil is not present.
• Let others know. You should also let others know about how silver foil is made, and why its adharmic.  While it may seem confrontational to bring up an issue, or may feel that others may judge you, you will most commonly that others were often in the same boat you were before you learned how silver foil is made.  Rather than getting upset, they will thank you for imparting this knowledge.