Labs to be set up in Dhaka, Ctg to detect food adulteration

Jubair Hasan Two laboratories with state-of-the-art facility will be set up in Dhaka and Chittagong cities by 2014 to ensure safe food consumption of people by detecting growing rate of food adulteration, officials said. Under a project involving more than Tk 5.55 billion, six modern slaughter houses will also be set up in the country's six city corporations - Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet -- to process animals' meat in an environment-friendly way. The government took the project named Urban Public and Environmental Health Sector Development Project (UPEHSDP) to improve public and environmental health conditions in the urban areas, particularly in six city corporations. "The key project will be executed by 2014 with finance from Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Bangladesh (GOB)," Project Director Naim Ahmed Khan said. ADB will provide nearly Tk 4.18 billion (US$ 60 million) while the government will contribute Tk 1.38 billion (US$ 20 million) to make progress in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by improving quality of life of urban citizens. The project director said the city corporations will be able to successfully deal with growing number of food contaminations for improving health conditions of the people after completion of the scheme. The official said construction of sanitary landfill will also be made that will deal with two types of waste management - Solid Waste Management and Medical Waste Management - in those local government bodies. "We're in the process of deploying three foreign consultancy firms for the scheme," he added. Deputy Director of the project Nitish Chandra Sarkar said a total of 102 persons will be recruited in the project of which 42 at project management unit and 60 at six city corporation project implementing units. Currently, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has a food testing laboratory, which was made operational before independence of the country and it is conducting its activities very poorly due to lack of many modern equipment. "The condition of the existing laboratory in DCC is so poor that many of the cases can not be properly detected. The growing number of food adulteration cannot be tackled by it," DCC Chief Medical Officer Brigadier General Nasir Uddin said. Dishonest food manufacturers and traders often use chemicals in food items to make such items look more attractive and fresh to the consumers, resulting in diseases like diarrhoea and cancer. According to IPH (Institute of Public Health) more than 50 per cent of food samples they have tested are adulterated. Food colouring is a form of adulteration. A toxic artificial dye is used to colour fruits and vegetables such as melons and tomatoes to give them a rich colour. Another study by the Food and Nutrition Institution, University of Dhaka has found alarming level of deadly bacteria like E-coli, Salmonella and Shigella in most of the restaurant foods and street foods in the city. Appreciating the move, an official of Consumers' Association of Bangladesh (CAB) said such an initiative will help mitigate people's sufferings slightly. "The government should intensify its ongoing drive against food adulteration."