Food adulteration
The bitter truth
is that most of the food items we consume are
adulterated in some way
or the other
Adulteration of food is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. Since ages milkmen are mixing water with milk to increase the volume. Roadside eateries have for decades on end been preparing food items with oil of poor quality. It is a usual practice for traders to ripen certain fruits using different methods. However, the sheer extensiveness of the use of dangerous chemicals to adulterate food has reached alarming levels to say the least. Poisonous ingredients including formalin, urea, and industrial dye are being used by unscrupulous traders to contaminate food.
What is often forgotten is the fact that contamination in this country begins from the field itself where there is unchecked overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. So across all range of crops there is high level of chemical residues. Obviously, it is the unscrupulous merchants and traders, looking for a quick profit, indulge in the loathsome practice of food adulteration.
However, shortages, increasing prices, consumer demands for variety in foods, a lack of awareness, negligence and indifference among consumers in addition to the inadequate enforcement of the necessary laws and food safety measures also fuel the unwelcome phenomenon. Over the last decade or so food adulteration has not only worsened but also is playing havoc with the lives of people. What is most appalling is the fact that most of the culprits engaged in this activity go unpunished. Even those who are brought to book often get away after serving an extremely limited sentence.
The NGOs and the consumer rights groups can play a role to make the consumers more aware of their rights. They should run their campaigns to benefit the consumers and ensure that all incidents of adulteration are reported in the media. Unfortunately shortage of laboratories and the lack of qualified personnel on part of the government have made matters much worse for the general people. What makes the phenomenon really dangerous for Bangladesh is that a large section of the population does not have access to proper health-care system.
The government has not done enough to control the adulteration of food products. There is law existing in the country to prosecute the guilty, but the people are not aware of the laws. The common man does not know whom to complain and how they work! The first thing the government should do is to increase the awareness amongst the public regarding the food adulteration, the local authority to whom the complaint should be addressed and also provide proper guidelines to the manufacturers.
