Food adulteration by chemicals and diseases
Friday, 31 July 2009
Md. Mozzammel Haque
FOOD adulteration is the process of adding chemical substances with foods, which should not be contained within food and beverages. Chemical substances or simply adulterants may be internationally added to substances to reduce manufacturing costs, or for some deceptive or malicious purpose. When profit in business is more important than morality, then it is possible to add the poisoning contents to the foods and beverages. A limited number of people die without foods but large population have been suffering from complicated diseases related to food adulteration and finally die. Adulterated food consuming is the waiting for death, which is more a punishment than death. So two years' jail along with some money as compensation is not sufficient for the defendant who mixes poisons to foods.
Which chemicals are added to foods and how the foods are adulterated: To make cheaper coffee, Mogdad seeds and Roasted chicory roots have been used as adulterants. But those are highly toxic and play an important role in increasing the blood pressure.
Oleomargarine or lard is the fatty acid added to butter, which is cheap and can be easily made industrially.
Rapeseed that has been linked with adverse effects in asthma, allergies and hay fever, is commonly added to sunflower oil and soyabean oil.
Rye can cause both physical and mental harm, including convulsions, miscarriage, necrosis of digits, and hallucinations. But rye flour has been added to barley, bread, wheat flour, and even alum to disguise the use of low-quality flour.
All artificial colours are highly toxic such as copper, zinc or indigo-based green dyes, are added to soft and hard drinks, and in colouring sweets etc.
Sudan-1 yellow and Sudan Red colour is added to chilli powder. Those colours are responsible for making tumours in the liver and bladder and finally cancer.
Amylum is the polysaccharide carbohydrate, which forms the crystalline form in the liver and creates digestion problem. It is added to sausages as a thickening, stiffening or gluing agent.
Cutting oil has been used for making milk. When milk is made by cutting oil, there is no chance to grow any kind of virus/bacteria and so preservation is unnecessary.
There are many applications of urea such as to grow more food dyeing in textile, bright colour rice, bright colour puppet rice, preservation of fish, meat and vegetables, food additive for cow which sells in the Eid- ul-Azha, flavour-enhancing additive for cigarettes. It forms dermatitis or inflammation of the skin (rashes), bulkiness of the body, kidney and liver damage etc.
High fructose corn syrup or cane sugar can be used to adulterate honey. It is fully responsible for obeisity, diabetics, foot ulcers, eyes and nerve damages etc.
Formaline has been used for the preservation of noodles, meat, fish etc. It creates in the body violent coughing, headaches, Asthma, Bronchitis, and some other complicated diseases.
Therefore, there is no doubt that adulteration of food is a serious crime. It is easy to mix chemicals to food but difficult to find out instantly and also difficult to understand all people who consume those food. However it is good news for us that the government of Bangladesh is taking initiatives against the people/businessmen who mix unwanted chemicals to food. It is the primary step to address the problem but we should create awareness among the people against them.
Now-a-days, education is very cheap and available here, if you have money, you will buy certificates. In that case, knowledge and morality are completely absent in the so-called educated people. A big question for the society is that all students are able to buy certificates from universities or to be doctors, engineers, pharmacists, microbiologists, chemists, etc. If the government fails to maintain the quality of education for the students, diethylene glycol will frequently be added to paracetamol for making paracetamol suspension for the patients and, however, more people will die by eating than hunger.
The writer is a student of AtoSiM Master Course, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam and can be reached at mdmozzammehaque@yahoo.ca
FOOD adulteration is the process of adding chemical substances with foods, which should not be contained within food and beverages. Chemical substances or simply adulterants may be internationally added to substances to reduce manufacturing costs, or for some deceptive or malicious purpose. When profit in business is more important than morality, then it is possible to add the poisoning contents to the foods and beverages. A limited number of people die without foods but large population have been suffering from complicated diseases related to food adulteration and finally die. Adulterated food consuming is the waiting for death, which is more a punishment than death. So two years' jail along with some money as compensation is not sufficient for the defendant who mixes poisons to foods.
Which chemicals are added to foods and how the foods are adulterated: To make cheaper coffee, Mogdad seeds and Roasted chicory roots have been used as adulterants. But those are highly toxic and play an important role in increasing the blood pressure.
Oleomargarine or lard is the fatty acid added to butter, which is cheap and can be easily made industrially.
Rapeseed that has been linked with adverse effects in asthma, allergies and hay fever, is commonly added to sunflower oil and soyabean oil.
Rye can cause both physical and mental harm, including convulsions, miscarriage, necrosis of digits, and hallucinations. But rye flour has been added to barley, bread, wheat flour, and even alum to disguise the use of low-quality flour.
All artificial colours are highly toxic such as copper, zinc or indigo-based green dyes, are added to soft and hard drinks, and in colouring sweets etc.
Sudan-1 yellow and Sudan Red colour is added to chilli powder. Those colours are responsible for making tumours in the liver and bladder and finally cancer.
Amylum is the polysaccharide carbohydrate, which forms the crystalline form in the liver and creates digestion problem. It is added to sausages as a thickening, stiffening or gluing agent.
Cutting oil has been used for making milk. When milk is made by cutting oil, there is no chance to grow any kind of virus/bacteria and so preservation is unnecessary.
There are many applications of urea such as to grow more food dyeing in textile, bright colour rice, bright colour puppet rice, preservation of fish, meat and vegetables, food additive for cow which sells in the Eid- ul-Azha, flavour-enhancing additive for cigarettes. It forms dermatitis or inflammation of the skin (rashes), bulkiness of the body, kidney and liver damage etc.
High fructose corn syrup or cane sugar can be used to adulterate honey. It is fully responsible for obeisity, diabetics, foot ulcers, eyes and nerve damages etc.
Formaline has been used for the preservation of noodles, meat, fish etc. It creates in the body violent coughing, headaches, Asthma, Bronchitis, and some other complicated diseases.
Therefore, there is no doubt that adulteration of food is a serious crime. It is easy to mix chemicals to food but difficult to find out instantly and also difficult to understand all people who consume those food. However it is good news for us that the government of Bangladesh is taking initiatives against the people/businessmen who mix unwanted chemicals to food. It is the primary step to address the problem but we should create awareness among the people against them.
Now-a-days, education is very cheap and available here, if you have money, you will buy certificates. In that case, knowledge and morality are completely absent in the so-called educated people. A big question for the society is that all students are able to buy certificates from universities or to be doctors, engineers, pharmacists, microbiologists, chemists, etc. If the government fails to maintain the quality of education for the students, diethylene glycol will frequently be added to paracetamol for making paracetamol suspension for the patients and, however, more people will die by eating than hunger.
The writer is a student of AtoSiM Master Course, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam and can be reached at mdmozzammehaque@yahoo.ca