Dealing with food adulteration problem

The  adulteration  or contamination of  food is an alarming  problem in Bangladesh. It affects the life of each and every person irrespective of gender, age or economic status. It poses serious threat to the development of the growing children - even when a child is still in the womb of the mother. The number of disabled and autistic children in the country is around 1.5 million, according to child health specialists. Access to  pure and safe food is a fundamental  right  of every citizen of the country but  unfortunately  adulteration  of food with toxic chemicals has reached such a level  that pure and safe  food is hardly available in the market. So, knowingly or unknowingly, people have to  buy  poisonous adulterated food with their hard-earned  money to eat and to feed  their children.
The media, particularly the newspapers, have raised the awareness of the people about food adulteration. They have been writing how food grains, vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, milk, bakery products, sweetmeats,  ice-cream and  soft drink are  being adulterated. Recently, it was published in many dailies that poultry, dairy and fish feed  are produced from the waste of tannery factories, which  are contaminated  with heavy metals like cadmium, chromium, lead, etc. These harmful heavy metals are entering our body through consumption of fish, meat, chicken and egg, which  acts on our vital organs causing serious complications. Few months back, it was  disclosed  by the  Institute of Public Health  that 89 per cent powdered milk in the market were contaminated in many ways, and  liquid milk  of  many dairy farms were found to be contaminated with toxic Aldrin. In other cases, liquid  milk was  found adulterated with formalin, hydrogen per-oxide, boric acid, sodium carbonate, caustic  soda, paint and urea.
From this short account of the state of food situation, it is seen that we are over head and ears in the food adulteration problem. Some people make a witty comment: if anyone now wants to commit suicide by taking poison, he/she may not die, as poison is also adulterated. It may sound ridiculous to many, but the harsh reality is that food adulteration is a silent killer. It adversely affects our vital organs like kidney, liver, brain, bone marrow, respiratory tract and also causes cancer. According to recent statistics, more than  3,00,000 people in the country are suffering from cancer and health experts cautioned that the number would be double within the next 10 to 15 years, if the present trend of food adulteration continued. Minor children are now seen to suffer from kidney, liver and heart  diseases which shows direct linkage of these diseases with food adulteration.
Many people hold a pessimistic view and say that they do not see any hope for the solution of this problem in the near future. Some have also stopped buying and eating all kinds of fruits, milk etc. to avoid health hazards associated with the consumption of poisonous food.
The good news is that, concerned people, civil society members, consumers' right protection groups and the media  have raised  their voice against this social crime. The government is also committed to stamp out this problem and has passed a new Safe Food Law-2013 which has become effective from  February 01, 2015.  The Safe Food Authority (SFA) has also become functional from that date. Now all eyes are focused on SFA to see how quickly it is organised, sets the standards of safe food and enforce  the law to achieve the goal of ensuring pure and safe food for the people.
It may be pertinent to mention here that food adulteration is a social problem and some food growers, businessmen, traders and vendors are involved in the food adulteration  process. Sometimes, growers have to use chemicals for the protection of their crops from the attack of insects and diseases. In many cases, they can not choose the right  chemicals and determine the right dose due to ignorance. Unscrupulous growers and traders of fruits sometimes use calcium carbide and other toxic chemicals for ripening and preservation of fruits. Farmers should be trained in the use of chemicals. They should also be motivated not to use  any chemicals with food items without the prescription  of  agriculture/livestock/fisheries officers.
The secondary food producers, businessmen and traders, who are involved with food adulteration, should be educated from the ethical and moral points of views and persuaded not to adulterate food. Above all, stern measures should be taken against the violators of the  Safe Food Law-2013.
 The writer is a Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Food, Government of Bangladesh and an alumnus of Asia pacific Centre for Security Studies (APCSS), Hawaii, USA. E-mail-shapla1959@yahoo.com.