Food safety concerns

Mobile courts and the media from time to time are found to go after irresponsible food traders and handlers. But whether or not such 'monitoring' --- seizing their produce and imposing fines ---- improves food safety in the cities where all such activity is focussed, is hardly ever studied. To all intents and purposes, there is virtually no change in the often open practice of food adulteration to enhance looks, shelf life and profits. The fact is, the extent of the problem is so widespread that it is beyond the capacities of such mobile courts. Pouncing on offenders from time to time may make news but can hardly address the root problem --- which is both ignorance and lack of scruples. Traders throughout the country have always been found to indulge in food adulteration. So, focusing on the capital alone would not achieve much, save showcase a few who were caught in the act ----- and that, only the-not-too-powerful or clever. Many have been booked in this country for serving stale or rotten items, selling date-expired imported goods, mixing non-food material with edibles and the like. The drive, specially during the past caretaker period, seemed to have had some deterrent effect, at least for a while. Perhaps such drives should have been allowed to continue, till other effective and lasting methods were designed and employed, such as disseminating standard food safety rules among the public. Both consumers and traders need to be educated in this regard. There is hardly any effective state mechanism in Bangladesh to ensure that the quality of all kinds of edibles in the market is safe. The Consumer Protection Law could, in this instance, play a significant role, provided the authorities concerned are consistently alert and do everything possible to make the end users aware of the hazards lurking in edibles ----- both ready-to-eat and raw. Then again, the power of citizens' groups could be mobilized and marshaled to deter both small and big players from importing and concocting questionable commodities in the name of food and beverages. There are hazards at all levels but awareness is seriously lacking ---- at policy-making, traders, as well as ordinary consumer levels. For example, monosodium glutamate, or tasting salt, as it is commonly known, is imported and used extensively in Bangladesh, as a food-enhancing additive by both high-end and low-end caterers, unaware that it is a potent neurotoxin and has been banned in many countries in the world. Sodium cyclamate is another harmful substance that is advertised and sold here as being 'a hundred times sweeter than sugar.' A variety of so-called sweeteners that diabetics and weight-watchers are asked to take as substitute, such as aspartame and nutrasweet, are known to be slow poisons. These are also marketed without question, as are so-called energy drinks, reportedly laced with addictive chemicals. There is no alternative to educating and mobilizing the consumers against such potentially harmful commerce. Care must be also taken in the storage of essential food items such as grain, pulses, cooking oil and sugar, so that they do not sit in depots getting spoilt while people go hungry due to decision-makers' lack of foresight. Disaster preparedness certainly must have a buffer stock but there can be no excuse for holding on to perishable food items that could easily be used in creative ways to feed the neediest before they become unfit for human consumption. Mouldy rice, lentils and spices are known to be a key factor in the prevalence of serious liver diseases among Bangladesh's poor. Sustained food-for-work programmes to combat chronic hunger ---- with food that is edible --- would be the right thing to do.