Poisonous foods unfold a frightening spectre

The High Court (HC) recently directed the government to issue a gazette notification for enforcement of the safe food law in order to check food adulteration. Another important issue the directive covers is the probable formation of a separate body under the Safe Food Act 2013 with the responsibility of ensuring food safety in the country. The directive made it incumbent on the food secretary to report on its compliance to the HC by June 16. Two more weeks have passed by this time. How the directive has been complied with is not yet clear. But apart from some sporadic drives against food adulteration in the capital's markets, nothing more tangible came into sight so far as an anti-adulteration drive is concerned.
There were, however, reports galore on various methods used to ripen fruits or extend their shelf life and give a fresh look to fish and vegetables. A novel but heinous method invented by fishmongers at Town Hall market in Mohammadpur to give fish an unbelievably fresh look is a clear indication of the diabolical mind at work in cheating consumers with highly unsafe consumables. Adulteration in its original sense meant mixing of low quality commodities with high quality ones. But in its wider sense it refers to treatment of foods in particular with chemical or harmful agents. Foods no longer remain food but turn into poison and enter into human body system in slow doses all through one's life. It is baffling how longevity of people here has gone up to 70.36 years of age (68. 48 years for male and 72.31 years for female).
Right to quality food is central to good health -essential for enjoying life and becoming productive. But this fundamental principle is sacrificed on the altar of traders' greed. Even producers have been introduced to all kinds of chemical fertiliser and pesticide along with a few harmful methods and reagents -all aimed at maximising production and profit, bringing produces to market well before the proper season and ripening those prematurely or preserving the perishable items for more than their normal time. But it is the traders who act as the prime culprits in all such malpractices. Fishmongers at Town Hall market not only applied formalin but also the jelly-like substance extracted from ladies finger (dheros). Also red textile dye is applied to the gill. Except for the ladies-finger extract, the two other substances are most harmful for human body. They can cause cancer, damage liver if someone routinely eats fish treated with such agents.
Then bananas and tomatoes are sprayed with ethylene. Mangoes are ripened prematurely with calcium carbide, a raw agent for producing acetylene which at high temperature is used for welding metals like iron and steel. Hastening the process of ripening of unripe fruits like papaya, guava, apple, pear and plum, the use of calcium carbide-induced acetylene is quite common now. The malpractice is resorted to mostly with an eye to maximising profit. Fruits arrive in the market much before their due time. In the process, though, the fruits are undergoing some changes genetically and their poisonous contents end up putting at risk the health of consumers. So, mere adulteration of foods cannot quite explain this criminal practice. It is much more than adulteration. Primarily, it is a breach of business ethics and the law of the land. Also because this act is responsible for causing wilful harm to human health leading to sufferings to millions with ill health and even death in many cases, the gravity of the crime should be taken into due cognizance.
How frightening the health scene in this country is best illustrated by a report carried in a contemporary on Tuesday last. Of the 50 essentials tested at the Institute of Public Health laboratory in Mohakhali, 47 were found adulterated, contaminated or below quality. Only three items -fenugreek (methi), black pepper and sesame oil - passed the quality test. The rest -from spices to cooking oil to milk products to lentil to vegetables and fish-consumed in large quantities and widely for survival were found harmful for human body. The presence of chemicals and reagents is an indication of carcinogenic substances people are taking in daily doses. No wonder therefore that the increasing admission of patients to hospitals with diseases like cancer and liver cirrhosis is directly related to the adulterated foods. The nation is paying many times more than the profit the traders make in terms of money, loss of health, active working days and of course lives.
Considerations such as this should make it obligatory on every member of society to do whatever is possible to bring an end to this vile business practice. The HC could not be more straightforward in demanding effective action against a self-inflicting damage to the nation. If the short-term damage is colossal, how will its long-term impact be? It is a disastrous vision of apocalyptic proportion. Already the HC has indicated how the rot can be stemmed. A special body equipped with adequate men and materials can bring an end to this dreadful scourge provided that the drive is launched with a sense of purpose and a deadline set for accomplishing the task.
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