We need food quality and safety authority

The cabinet has approved a draft law with the provision of imprisonment for a maximum of five years or a fine of Tk 10 lakh or both for irregularities from food production to marketing, including adulteration or corruption, according to a report published in The Business Post on Tuesday. On Monday, the cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, approved the draft of the “Food Production, Storage, Transfer, Transport, Supply, Distribution, and Marketing (Prevention of Harmful Activities) Act 2022.” The proposed law also provides setting up a safe food court, where persons committing an offence under the law will be tried. A mobile court can also hold the trial if necessary. But in that case, it can sentence an offender to a maximum of two years of imprisonment. The law states that if any perishable food item is seized on suspicion of adulteration or irregularity, it can be sold at auction. At the same time, a small portion can be kept as a sample. Even if it is not perishable, it should be auctioned within 45 days and the court will keep the money. If the accused is proven innocent, he will get back the money. Otherwise, the court will give an order on the matter.

The offences underlined by the law include mixing harmful substances during food production; storing food beyond the stipulated time, and taking, transferring, storing, exchanging, or reselling food grain sacks from public warehouses that do not contain the name of the government programme or the distribution sign. Distributing less food than the prescribed amount under a government programme and selling or distributing without using measurements set by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution will also be punishable under the proposed law. Basically, two separate laws were merged into one to formulate the new law, which aims to prevent harmful activities in food production, storage, transfer, transportation, supply, distribution, and marketing.

Formulation of the new law is a welcome move by the government. In fact, the country needed such a law much before. It is better late than never. But how the law is executed remains a cause for concern. Will the consumers file cases against the offenders, or will the government agencies responsible for particular areas referred to in the law monitor offences and file cases? As described in the draft, there are different phases that the food items have to pass through before reaching consumers - production, storage, transfer, transportation, supply, distribution, and marketing. Offences can be committed at any of the above mentioned phases. There is no single authority or agency to look after all the stages. This can make the law ineffective unless properly addressed in the course of its final enactment. The industries ministry is responsible for the production phase, the commerce ministry is responsible for the marketing, supply, and distribution phase, the law enforcing agencies are responsible for ensuring that there is no illegal hoarding. The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) is responsible for issuing certificates on standards at the production level only. Food products can be adulterated and other offences mentioned in the law can also be committed at any level before reaching the consumers. This is hard to believe that the different agencies responsible for different purposes will coordinate among themselves unless they’re a single authority that takes the responsibility of ensuring safe and quality food at fair prices. The role of BSTI, which has the responsibility of certifying quality and standards beyond the food sector, is questionable. The institution also lacks the capacity and human resources to take additional responsibility. We should think about establishing a food quality and safety authority that will take responsibility for ensuring safe and quality foods at reasonable prices for the consumers.