Two dozen laws fail to ensure food safety

Existing two dozen laws and four dozen rules under those laws have failed to ensure food safety in the country, creating uncertainty over the health and nutrition of common people.

According to Bangladesh Safe Food Authority (BFSA), more than 12 per cent of food in the country contains harmful substances for the human body. However, private research says the figure is much higher, above 60 per cent.

Analysts say that to ensure the quality of food, implementation of the laws and rules related to food safety must be ensured first. In order to ensure food safety, they suggested increasing the awareness of traders and consumers and coordination between law enforcers.

Existing laws and rules

Among the two dozen laws, the ‘Food Safety Act-2013’ is the most important. The rest are somehow or other related to safe food, nutrition, and health security. A number of 17 ministries and organisations are involved in enforcing these laws.

The Food Safety Act was enacted to ensure food safety by coordinating the activities related to the production, import, processing, storage, supply, marketing, and sale of foods. The BFSA, formed in 2015, has so far formulated three rules and 11 regulations under the Act.

The other laws include the Consumer Rights Protection of Act-2009; Vitamin A Enrichment in Edible Oil Act-2013; BSTI Ordinance-1985; Fish and Fish Products (Inspection and Quality Control) Act-2020; Bangladesh Hotel and Restaurant Act-2014; Agricultural Marketing Act-2018; Iodine Deficiency Diseases Prevention Act-1989; Iodized Salt Act-2021; Bangladesh Applied Nutrition Research and Training Institute Act-2012; Animal Slaughter and Meat Quality Control Act-2011; Bangladesh Livestock and Livestock Products; Quarantine Act-2005; Formalin Control Act-2015; Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission Act-1992; Breast-Milk Substitutes, Baby Foods, Commercially Manufactured Supplementary Baby Foods and Its Equipment (Regulation of Marketing) Act-2013; and Fish Feed and Animal Feed Act-2010.

Apart from these laws, there are some other rules and regulations to ensure food safety and discipline the food business. These are Penal Code-1860; Pesticides Ordinance-1971; Special Powers Act-1974; Fish and Fish Products (Inspection and Control) Ordinance-1983; Local Government (City Corporation) Act-2009; Local Government (Municipalities) Act-2009; Mobile Court Act-2009; and Bangladesh Competition Commission Act.

Shortcomings in law enforcement

As per Section 87 of the Food Safety Act and Weights and Measures Ordinance of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), providing license number, details of ingredients used, date of manufacture, and expiry date on the package is mandatory to sell packaged food.

However, visiting various markets, it was found that edible oil, milk, yogurt, biscuits, cakes, semai, honey, various bakery products, pickles, powdered spices, and other types of food are sold in unlabeled packages without providing any details, creating suspicion over the quality of food.

Besides, many are selling products under the name of ‘homemade’, ‘pure’, and ‘organic’ foods by opening various online pages.

As per Rule 3 (a) of traders’ obligation of the Act, chemicals approved for use in food can be used in the production and processing of food products, and information on chemical ingredients used, including preservatives, must be mentioned.

But many traders do not follow this rule. For example, Chalek Food Industries of Bogura was fined in August last for making ice lollies and mango juice using harmful chemicals, colours, and fragrances instead of mangoes and oranges.

The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection has fined Capital’s Green 9 Company Limited for manufacturing unauthorised chocolates using expired colours and flavours.

Although there is a rule to control the use of fatty acids in food, small hotels, restaurants, and roadside shops often use burnt edible oil in cooking, which is a major source of transfats.

BFSA member Md Rezaul Karim said, “We conduct regular raids and test the quality of food after collecting samples from the market. If anything harmful is found, legal action is taken against the trader. Now we are focusing on the implementation of Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) to stop chemical use at the farmer level.”

Quality of only 88 products checked

Although the BSTI has fixed the standard of 619 types of agricultural and food products, the organisation verifies the standard of only 88 types of products. As a result, consumers are uncertain about the quality of the rest of the products.

BSTI’s Certification Marks Wing Deputy Director Riyazul Haque said, “Manufacturers in developed countries take certification marks (CM) licenses to promote their products and gain trust; because people trust the tested product and that product sells well in the market. But this culture has not yet developed in our country. Therefore, there is a need to make the certification of some products mandatory.”

Problem in restaurant act

Although the Bangladesh Hotel and Restaurant Act was enacted to bring order to the business, food safety is yet to be ensured at hotels and restaurants. Businessmen blame the weakness of the law as one of the reasons behind this failure.

According to Section 10 of the law, restaurants with 30 seats have been brought under the Act. But, in reality, the majority of the restaurants established on roadsides and alleys across the country are small. Many restaurants do not even have infrastructure as per the rules.

The number of restaurants outside the jurisdiction of the law is increasing day by day. According to the data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the number of hotels and restaurants in the country is now 4,36,274 which was 2,75,324 only a decade ago. According to the calculations of the Restaurant Owners Association, there are 60,000 small and large food establishments that can be called restaurants.

Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association Secretary General Imran Hasan said, “Around 70 per cent of those who eat out regularly are dependent on roadside restaurants. The condition of these restaurants is the worst. They are legally allowed to do business as they have the trade license.”

The BFSA grades restaurants in four categories – A+, A, B and C – based on food quality, cleanliness and environment. So far only 181 restaurants have come under the grading, of which only 138 are in the ‘A+’ and ‘A’ categories.

Edible oils lack vitamin A

Even though a law was passed in 2013 mandating the mixing of vitamin A in edible oil, a BFSA report says that 47 per cent of loose oil and 13 per cent of bottled oil do not contain the vitamin.

According to the report, 65 per cent of the edible oil sold in the country is loose. Although it has been announced that all types of edible oil have to be bottled, the Ministry of Industries is unable to implement the announcement.

Meat quality

The Animal Slaughter and Meat Quality Control Act makes it mandatory to have a license for the meat business. But the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock is yet to implement the rule. A separate rule was made in 2021 in this regard. But meat safe for health is yet to be sold at a fair price in the country. During various raids, rotten meat is regularly found in the shops.

However, the livestock ministry banned the sale of meat without a license through a notification in December last. At the same time, traders were ordered to get a license for the sale of meat by paying a prescribed fee.

Challenges to food safety

Professor Latiful Bari, from Centre for Advanced Research in Sciences of Dhaka University, said, “Due to the lack of strong enforcement authorities and lack of coordination among the institutions concerned, food safety-related laws are not fully implemented.”

He said, “We have problems in ensuring food safety. We need an independent commission to ensure safe food which will have special powers. Besides, the lack of coordination between those who will implement the laws should be removed.”

Contacted, Secretary to the Food Ministry Ismail Hossain said, “Ensuring safe food is a long process. This is not possible in a few days. We have a long way to go. Many countries are yet to embark on the journey. We have come a long way in that direction.”

“There are many challenges to ensuring food safety. Even if there is a law, it will take some time to implement it. It is not possible to implement the law through mobile courts. Only 2-3 officials of food safety authority cannot make lakhs of people and traders obey the law in a district,” he added.