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Food adulteration: A threat to our health

Published : Tuesday, 21 May, 2019 at 12:00 AM  Count : 809
Md Momtazur Rahman
Md Momtazur Rahman

Md Momtazur Rahman

There is an old maxim in English, "Health is wealth". A physically capable human being can contribute to a family's economic development and a country's economic development as a whole. If a person is not physically sound, he or she fails to contribute to any forms of development. Ultimately he or she becomes alienated from the society and from the state. Are we becoming a paralyzed nation, gradually? There are millions of questions, in our minds. Are we consuming safe foods?

The politicians never organise any movement against food adulteration. We, as the general citizens, do not seem to be worried about safe food. The issue has been the headlines in the media when the High Court, along with the RAB chief and law enforcers, is concerned about adulteration. Recently, we came to know that almost all collected samples of liquid milk products, sold in open markets, were full of insecticides, leads, and anti-biotic substances. The government is the only authority which can ensure safe food for us.

After achieving self-sufficiency in food, the assurance of safe food is the government's responsibility which should be ensured for the well being of the common people. Even though Prime Minister terms adulteration as corruption and says that the government has adopted 'zero tolerance' policy against it like terrorism and drugs. In this article I endeavour to pen a discourse on this dreadful act, 'food adulteration'.

According to the physicians and nutritionists, milk is a vital nutritious beverage for human body. This is an essential diet for a baby. There is no milk substitute in the body of a baby. Therefore, it is recommended to breastfeed all children up to six months of age. Adult people depend on milk from cows, buffaloes and goats. However, most of the human beings drink cow's milk.

According to a report by the National Food Safety Laboratory (NFSL) under the Public Health Institute of Bangladesh, the harmful substances, such as pesticides, leads and alflatoxins were found in cow's milk, which was sold in the open market. According to the report, in the open market, packet milk was found to contain more than the tolerable levels of antibiotics and other substances. The information is extremely alarming.

According to the physicians, these substances in milk and yogurt are harmful for public health. Excessive access to these substances in the human body may cause to deadly diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, liver failure and other organ failure. According to the Food Laboratory of Mohakhali Public Health Institute, 54 per cent of the country's food products are adulterated and are considered to be harmful for human body. Due to the consumption of foods with antibiotics, human body becomes antibiotic resistant. At one stage there is no antibiotic resistance to disease in our body.

The consequences of all these are harmful and cause to death. Dr Rashid-E-Mahmub, "Ex-President of BMA wrote in a Bengali newspaper and said, "Milk is the main food of children. Baby nutrition comes from milk. What will the child eat if there is a deadly harmful element in milk? Will he/she grow up eating poisonous food? This cannot be done anyway. The government should take necessary steps to bring NFSL research into the matter".

He also added, "The drive against food adulteration is going on in almost every food item in the country. Although adulterated foods are sold freely, there is no strong organization of buyers in the country". Recently, RAB, along with other agencies, is conducting anti-adulteration drive in Dhaka and other cities as well. According to the media, BSTI has recently filed a case against 32 business organizations. However, the reality is that the evil traders are rampantly engaged in food adulteration in the capital and other cities as well.

On the other hand, sometimes the measures taken against adulterants are not enough. According to Dr Rashid, "the persons or organizations of the adulterated food products are fined nominally and reprimand. There is a need for strict punishment". "At the same time, the safe food authority, the department of livestock, the department of health, and the sanitation staffs will have to play the role" as he asserted". Sometimes, Prime Minister expresses strong caution against food adulterators. However, cruel acts of adulterators are not prevented. We observe that there are serious mismatches of the actions and the roles of the respective ministries and departments. There is a reality that the concerned ministries and departments have failed to regulate and monitor such this heinous and cruel acts.

How do the food adulterators manage to get chemical substances to adulterate foods? Is it possible to impose a ban on the overwhelming supply of harmful chemical products for adulterators? Only the genuine traders can supply chemical products for the registered buyers, who use chemical substances for industries and production purposes. This is the first and foremost duty for the government to prevent the supply of chemical substances so that the dishonest traders cannot buy in any ways.

Needless to mention, the citizens have to be aware of this cruel acts and adulterated foods. We, as consumers, must identify which foods are adulterated.  For example, I avoid buying processed foods, packed liquid milk, coloured sweets and canned beverages. I believe that this is not the solution to this crucial problem. We expect that our ministers and secretaries of the concerned ministries must impose a ban on the supply of harmful chemical substances for only food adulterators. The dishonest traders and adulterators never hear, now or they will never hear in future if Prime Minister urges and requests them not to adult our foods repeatedly. Therefore, the vicious circle--the import and supply of chemicals for the dishonest traders and adulterators--must be stopped for good. Otherwise, there is no solution to this misdeed.

The safe food authority was formed in 2015. Besides creating anti-adulteration awareness, the authority tries to ensure safe food intake. The law enforcing forces try to drive anti-adulteration campaign and extinct adulterated foods. This drive should not be carried out in the month of Ramadan; rather this campaign must be continued and it is the routine work. Under the Special Powers Act of 1974, the provision of food adulteration and the maximum penalty for selling adulterated food was imposed on death penalty.

Besides, the provision of 14 years of imprisonment was made. This is high time for the government to follow and impose the special power act of 1974. If there is the provision of the maximum death penalty for adulteration of food and if this punishment is executed, the culprits and food adulterators will never repeat the same heinous crime again.

Md Momtazur Rahman is a Professor of English, Department of Languages, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology. He can be reached at: momtazur@iubat.edu









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