Ensuring safe food
There is no alternative
to strict implementation of the law relating to food adulteration
The government is working relentlessly for ensuring safe food for all besides boosting food production, according to a report in this newspaper on Saturday. The State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Naryan Chandra Chanda recently talked about the governments step in this regard. It is the democratic right of every citizen of the country to get food items free from adulteration for consumption but it is a grim reality that the food items that are available in the markets are doing more harm than good. Adulteration of food items has become a burning national issue in recent times.
Is there any food item that can be taken safely in the country? Be it cereal, pulses, vegetables, fishes, milk, edible oils, spices, butter, ghee, sugar, fruits, dry fish, molasses, confectionary items like biscuits, cakes, pastries, candies, condiments, crackers, etc. all are contaminated, more or less. The food items that we take every day to stay alive are outright poison. Unbridled greed of a section of traders to earn easy money is the major cause of food adulteration. Who will rein in these thuggish elements?
According to doctors, consumption of adulterated food items may cause asthma, sore throat, larynx constriction, bronchitis, skin infection, allergic reaction, diarrhoea, haematuria, circulatory failure, numbness, dizziness, kidney failure, stomach cancer, liver cancer, nervous disorder and other diseases. After consumption of adulterated food items scores of people are falling sick. Children are the worst affected. The country witnessed a mushroom growth of private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres in Dhaka and other divisional and district towns during the last two decades. Owners of these hospitals and clinics are doing brisk business as there is great rush of patients. Adulteration of food items contributed to alarming rise in the number of patients.
The relevant authorities should take stringent measures against those responsible for adulteration of food items irrespective of political considerations. There is no alternative to strict implementation of the law relating to food adulteration. Drive against production and sale of spurious food items should be intensified. There should be proper monitoring of the food items produced by various companies and individuals in the interest of ensuring safe food for consumers. Members of the law enforcement agencies, civil society members, teachers and students from the capital city down to the grassroots level should be vigilant to resist the menace. Creation of mass awareness against the use of formalin and other chemical substances in food items can help a lot in this regard.
