More serious action needed for safety of edibles
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Some newshounds in the country have been doing a commendable job of focusing on the often-open practice of food adulteration, or even poisoning. Recent video reports on one of the television channels showed processors of sugar cane and date juice, adding hydroze, urea and even washing soda in molasses to make 'gur' look lighter and more attractive; some newspapers keep running stories of commercial fishers using poison to facilitate their catch; of carbide and colour to brighten fruit; fertilizer to whiten rice; formaldehyde to keep fish looking fresh; hormones and questionable preservatives to prolong the shelf life of edibles. The list of such unethical activities is indeed long. The extent of the problem is really deep and calls for more serious and sustained action to deter the unscrupulous traders who have always been found to employ multifarious ways of increasing their profit, even if it means harming consumers.
Of course many have been booked during different regimes for the sale of poor quality food stuffs, serving stale or rotten items, selling date-expired imported goods, mixing non-food material with edibles and the like. These limited drives may have had some deterrent effect for a while, but if media reports are any indication, food-related felony seemed to have come back full swing, an indication that the mobile court ordinance, proclaimed during the immediate past caretaker regime specifically to contain food-related crimes, was not altogether useless, and should not have been thrown out by the following government. No doubt a more effective state mechanism needs to be worked out to ensure that the quality of all kinds of edibles in the market is safe. The Consumer Protection Law could be made to play a significant role in this regard, provided the consuming public is consistently alert and facilitates the functioning of the said law so that all kinds of hazards lurking in edibles -- both ready-to-eat and raw -- may be eliminated sooner rather than later.
The law should apply also to the import of questionable commodities in the name of food and beverages. But awareness about the hazards of such imported items must be raised at all levels -- at policy-making, traders, as well as ordinary consumer levels -- if the safety of edibles is to be ensured. For example, monosodium glutamate, or tasting salt, as it is commonly known, is imported and used extensively in Bangladesh, by both high end and low-end caterers, as a food-enhancing additive, unaware that it is a potent neurotoxin and has been banned in many enlightened countries in the world. Sodium cyclamate is another harmful substance advertised and sold here as being 'a hundred times sweeter than sugar.' A variety of so-called sweeteners -- aspartame, nutrasweet -- supposedly for diabetics and so-called diet-conscious people, are known to be slow poisons but these are marketed without question, as are 'energy drinks' laced with addictive chemicals.
There is no alternative to educating and mobilizing the end consumers against the marketing of harmful substances in the name of food, drink and medicines. Sustained monitoring is also very important so that essential food items such as grain, cooking oil and sugar, are not spoilt in storage while people go hungry. Although food stocks are a testimony to any government's disaster preparedness, there can be no excuse for holding on to perishable stocks that could easily be used in creative ways to feed the neediest before the food become unfit for human consumption. Mouldy cereals are known to be a key factor in the prevalence of serious liver diseases, like cirrhosis, among Bangladesh's poor. Therefore decision-makers must be specially mindful about this aspect.
Of course many have been booked during different regimes for the sale of poor quality food stuffs, serving stale or rotten items, selling date-expired imported goods, mixing non-food material with edibles and the like. These limited drives may have had some deterrent effect for a while, but if media reports are any indication, food-related felony seemed to have come back full swing, an indication that the mobile court ordinance, proclaimed during the immediate past caretaker regime specifically to contain food-related crimes, was not altogether useless, and should not have been thrown out by the following government. No doubt a more effective state mechanism needs to be worked out to ensure that the quality of all kinds of edibles in the market is safe. The Consumer Protection Law could be made to play a significant role in this regard, provided the consuming public is consistently alert and facilitates the functioning of the said law so that all kinds of hazards lurking in edibles -- both ready-to-eat and raw -- may be eliminated sooner rather than later.
The law should apply also to the import of questionable commodities in the name of food and beverages. But awareness about the hazards of such imported items must be raised at all levels -- at policy-making, traders, as well as ordinary consumer levels -- if the safety of edibles is to be ensured. For example, monosodium glutamate, or tasting salt, as it is commonly known, is imported and used extensively in Bangladesh, by both high end and low-end caterers, as a food-enhancing additive, unaware that it is a potent neurotoxin and has been banned in many enlightened countries in the world. Sodium cyclamate is another harmful substance advertised and sold here as being 'a hundred times sweeter than sugar.' A variety of so-called sweeteners -- aspartame, nutrasweet -- supposedly for diabetics and so-called diet-conscious people, are known to be slow poisons but these are marketed without question, as are 'energy drinks' laced with addictive chemicals.
There is no alternative to educating and mobilizing the end consumers against the marketing of harmful substances in the name of food, drink and medicines. Sustained monitoring is also very important so that essential food items such as grain, cooking oil and sugar, are not spoilt in storage while people go hungry. Although food stocks are a testimony to any government's disaster preparedness, there can be no excuse for holding on to perishable stocks that could easily be used in creative ways to feed the neediest before the food become unfit for human consumption. Mouldy cereals are known to be a key factor in the prevalence of serious liver diseases, like cirrhosis, among Bangladesh's poor. Therefore decision-makers must be specially mindful about this aspect.