Many still at risk of malnutrition as food insecurity increases

Ali Ahsan, a resident of Sayedabad area of the capital, works as a construction worker and gets Tk 700 as daily wage. There are five members in his family, including two sons and a daughter. While talking to this correspondent at Dhalpur fish market, Ahsan said he doesn’t know how much food should be consumed, but he knows that boys and girls should eat nutritious food regularly to maintain good health. “But due to high prices, we cannot eat nutritious food regularly.”

Like Ali Ahsan, few other people in the capital’s different markets, including Maniknagar and Mugdapara, almost echoed the same.

The data--both official and unofficial--shows that the rate of malnutrition in the country has decreased slightly, but it is still at an alarming rate. Especially women, children and pregnant mothers are at high risk of malnutrition.

Experts say food insecurity has increased due to a shortage of food supply and rising prices after the pandemic. Also there is a shortage of safe food. As a result, the risk of malnutrition has increased more than before. They also blame lack of balanced diet, wrong process of food preparation, lack of awareness and proper implementation of laws for food insecurity.

According to a 2020 UNICEF report, the number of moderately and severely underweight children in Bangladesh is 22.6 per cent due to lack of nutritious food. Similarly, the number of children with moderate and severe stunting is 28 per cent.

The Bangladesh National Nutrition Council (BNNC) data shows that as more than 60 per cent of total food intake is met only by rice, more than 50 per cent of the people in the country are deficient in balanced food such as lack of vitamin A, calcium, zinc and iron.

A 2021 study by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University says that one-fourth of the country’s elderly suffer from malnutrition. And 65.3 per cent of them are at risk of malnutrition. Malnutrition in the elderly has been attributed to a lack of awareness, ignorance and financial crisis.

According to the data of Public Health Nutrition Institute, admission of malnourished children in hospitals has almost doubled since the outbreak of the coronavirus. A total of 11,313 malnourished children were admitted in 2021 while the figure was 6,570 in 2020.

Food safety risks

According to the Food Grain Availability Report of the Ministry of Food, the per capita food availability in the fiscal year 2021-22 has decreased by 22 per cent to 653 grams per day from 834 grams in the previous FY (2020-21).

Redwanur Rahman, the executive director of Bashundhara Foods and Beverages, said that they started importing some food grains, including wheat, from India after Russia-Ukraine war started in early February 2022.

But India also imposed export ban in May. Imports of wheat remained almost suspended until mid-November. Due to dollar crisis, food products are not being imported as per demand.

Abnormal price hike

Price rise is one of the main reasons for not consuming enough food. Income has not increased at the rate at which prices have increased.

According to the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) data, food prices have increased by over 11 per cent in 2022. Although the government has increased sales of rice, pulses, oil, sugar and flour through OMS compared to previous years, it is not enough to meet the demand.

CAB vice-president SM Nazer Hossain said that the rate at which food prices have increased in the past year has made many people unable to afford balanced diets. Many have had to adjust their spending by eating less. But the wages of workers have not kept pace with inflation.

The BBS data showed that the wages of workers in agriculture, construction, industry and services increased by 5-7 per cent in 2022.

According to a study conducted by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), an agricultural worker could buy 13.4 kg of rice per day with minimum wage even before the pandemic in 2019, but it has dropped to 8.5 kg at the end of 2022, down by 36.56 per cent.

Food Secretary Ismail Hossain said that the issue of food safety has created concern due to the Russia-Ukraine war. However, food security is not only a matter of the Ministry of Food, but many ministries, including agriculture, commerce and fisheries are also involved with it.

Nutritional and health risks in adulterated food

Dhaka University’s Center for Advanced Research in Science (CARS) researcher Prof Dr Latiful Bari said availability of food, food safety, developing habits of balance food and awareness are very important to ensure human nutrition.

“But our country is still far behind in terms of food security. Sixty per cent of food samples that come to our lab are found to be contaminated. And more than 60 per cent of food is adulterated. We are seeing the same picture for the last few years.”

He also said that farmers or producers unknowingly add harmful substances to food, and many people deliberately mix adulterants in food. For this reason, the law should be enforced as well as awareness should be increased.

In 2021-22, the Food Safety Authority tested a total of 1,282 samples of food including sugar, bread, sweet, juice, jelly, pickle, sauce and milk and found excess harmful substances or banned substances in 12 per cent of the samples. In 2020-21, it was 11.38 per cent and 11.32 per cent in 2019-20.

It also found the presence of banned potassium bromate in 15 per cent of bread produced in Dhaka and 31.50 per cent of bread produced outside Dhaka.

The food secretary said, “Although we are responsible for the purchase and sale of rice, wheat and corn, we are working with all types of food on the issue of safe food. We are also doing a lot of work on safe food, but we have not been able to do as much as we need.”

No alternative to awareness

Shafiquzzaman, director general of the National Consumer Protection Directorate, says that both the business community and the consumers should be aware of the prevention of adulterated food.

He said they are finding food adulteration wherever they carry out drive. It is not possible to prevent adulteration only with formulation of laws. Those who produce or sell adulterated food should be aware in this regard. “That is why we often organise discussions with businessmen.”

However, nutritionists feel that one should be aware of preparing food at home and eating balanced diets.

Changes in dietary

Nutritionists say that rice or similar food tops the food list in the country. Due to the lack of balanced diets, 65-70 per cent of the country’s total dietary energy comes from rice-based foods, which increase the amount of carbohydrates compared to proteins. So, they suggest making changes in dietary.