Home ›› 11 Mar 2022 ›› Opinion
Ensuring food safety is a significant concern for Bangladesh. With more than 170 million people living within just 148,460 square kilometers, Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Food adulteration is not new in our country, as we have seen time and again shocking revelations about food adulteration in the media. If we go through the old newspapers’ archives, we will find that food adulteration was always there, but things started going out of control in the recent decades. The main reasons behind this were the rapid urbanization of the country, population growth, improper monitoring of the market, sheer greed, and the criminal syndicates controlling the food trade.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Bangladesh’s official website, food safety in South Asia, nutrition, and food security are closely linked. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, the elderly, and the sick. In addition to contributing to food and nutrition security, safe food supply also supports national economies, trade, and tourism, stimulating sustainable development. The globalization of food trade, a growing world population, climate change, and rapidly changing food systems impact food safety. The World Health Organisation (WHO) aims to enhance the capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats associated with unsafe food at a global and country level. According to WHO, Bangladesh is among the 15 countries with the highest burden of trans-fat-induced heart diseases. Some 4.41 per cent of cardiovascular deaths in the country are attributed to trans-fat consumption.
Unsafe food is associated with several diseases regardless of age, and it hampers the national economy and trade. One might find it conflicting, as the traders seem to be profiting well. Except the rich of this country, others do not mind having contaminated food, as they are not left with a choice. As the population grew, so did the demand for protein and meat-based diets. According to the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), Bangladesh’s yearly meat consumption demand is 7.3 million tonnes. A day labourer, a domestic help, a readymade garment worker can hardly afford to buy beef or mutton. So, they turn to broiler chicken, which in our country are reported to have toxic chemicals in them due to the nature of their farming. Unable to afford quality chicken feed at a high price, farmers turn to low-quality chicken feed. We have to monitor the livestock and chicken feed manufacturers from regular kitchen market traders! On a different note, here is an observation from the writer’s part. We see many people getting irritated just hearing the term broiler chicken. The irony is that fast food shops use broiler chicken throughout the world. Of course, they are fed better quality chicken feed.
Now one might think that only the traders in the local bazar are involved in food adulteration. But this is only partially true. There have been several cases where big companies dealing with food items have been found to be indulged in food adulteration. We all remember the incident regarding the safety of drinking milk. Some time back, it was reported by some of the leading pharmacologists of the country that some of the giant packaged milk producers’ products had chemicals in them which was toxic for the human body and can stunt the growth of babies. The government even stopped the distribution of the packaged milk product of these companies for a few days. However, within a few weeks, these companies were welcomed back to continue their business as usual.
Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) under the Ministry of Industries is the only national agency charged with controlling the standard of services and products. From food and agricultural produce to chemical and textile products and electrical goods, BSTI certifies more than 150 products. There is widespread doubt regarding whether the packaged food that we are consuming is adequately tested or not. Over the years, the credibility of BSTI has come under severe scrutiny, and questions are often raised by experts regarding their performance.
Media reports suggest that dangerous formalin levels are added to fish, meat, and fruits. In the market, potentially harmful sweetening agents are injected into fruits like watermelon, and some brands of turmeric powder contain lead. Recently, the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) introduced a Formalin Test Kit. The advertisement for this product was published in only a few newspapers. The price of this kit was 100 taka, and it is supposed to detect formalin in vegetables, meat, fish, and other food items. Sadly enough, no further news of this kit was available. Whether this product is widely available or not, where to buy them and other similar queries remains a mystery. If one searches the internet, news of such a kit from 2014 and 2021 shows up. This indicates a serious lack of information regarding this particular kit, and proper promotion of this testing kit has not been done.
Today, we find heavy metals in chicken, fish, and other foods. Even in the fruit green apple, a layer of paraffin wax, normally used to make a candle, has been used. Now, is the food sold in the open market only being adulterated? There are other foods also, including those sold in the high-end shops. It is mentionable that artificial taste enhancers like tasting salt, basically monosodium glutamate, the sodium salt of glutamic acid, are being added to foods. Fast-food and Chinese restaurants are using an excessive amount to encourage consumers to consume more. India’s food regulator had banned Maggi noodles in 2015 after tests showed it contained an excessive amount of lead and for alleged mislabelling over the flavour enhancer MSG. The product returned to stores after a court lifted the restriction. Nestlé has since then removed the claim “No added MSG” from the product. Unfortunately, there was no proper investigation in our country regarding the popular product.
A few years back, in a TED Talks programme, a neuroscientist gave a speech on food additives and tasting salt. She gave a presentation based on her findings which showcased the harmful effects of consuming these artificial food taste enhancers. The content became viral, and then after a few months, Ted Talks started to distance itself from that particular content stating the views expressed in this video are not theirs. Rather it’s solely of the person who gave this presentation. Then sometimes later, the video was no longer available on the internet.
Recently, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) published ‘Controlling Trans-Fatty Acid in Foodstuffs Regulation 2021,’ setting the maximum level of trans-fat to 2 per cent of the total fat in all fats and oils and foodstuffs. Trans-fatty acid (TFA) or trans-fat is a harmful food element that causes increased risks of heart diseases, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases. The prime source of trans-fat in food is Partially Hydrogenated Oil or PHO, better known as dalda or vanaspati ghee in this region. Generally, PHO or dalda is used in preparing baked foods, processed foods, and fried snacks and food prepared by restaurants and street food vendors. Now, most locality-based restaurants use this PHO or dalda. We can see palm oil getting a dark colour after it has been used for a relatively long time, and the restaurants continue to fry snacks with that used oil. It begs the question, are we ensuring food safety in this context? The bottom line is that there exists a serious shortage of proper monitoring regarding food safety. Many among the policymakers have not thoroughly grasped the concept of food safety. There seems to be no adequate guideline regarding the matter.
If there is contamination of food, people cannot lead a healthy life. Food safety has been incorporated in the national food policy. Still, food safety remains elusive.
The writer is a journalist.
