Food adulteration
According to media reports some 600 field-level sanitary inspectors will work across the country to ensure food safety for all during the holy month of Ramadan. This is welcome news but if previous records are anything to go by people should not get their hopes up immediately.
Food is a basic necessity for sustenance of life. Healthy diet which comprises pure and fresh and hygienic eatables is of utmost importance for the health of people, which is also imperative for maintaining community health that is a national wealth. The tragedy is that in this country the phenomenon of unhygienic food as well as food adulteration has reached alarming proportions impacting the health of the people.
It is an unfortunate reality that adulteration, especially in food, has become ubiquitous in the society. No one can justify or defend it. Most food products available in the market are adulterated. The average family is eating dangerous colours, chemicals like formalin and carbide, sawdust, soapstone, harmful chemicals and other harmful substances mixed with consumable goods. High level of pesticides content is present in grains, pulses, in fruits and vegetables that we eat. Arsenic is being used in bottled water. Brick dust in chili-powder, coloured chalk powder in turmeric, injectable dyes in watermelon, peas, capsicum, brinjal, papaya seeds in black pepper etc are frequently used.
Even more unfortunate is the fact that this nefarious practice increases exponentially during the month of Ramadan. The shopkeepers and the merchantsmany of them with a pious faade try to earn a large amount of profit by this unethical practice, and so they play with the life and health of the people. They mix dangerous things in the daily eatables. Even the medicine and drugs are adulterated. Most people cant even think of having the commodities like ghee, oil, salt and milk, free from impurities. These merchants and traders are the enemy not only of the nation and their own children but of the entire mankind. The holy Prophet (PBUH) has disowned those who indulge in this immoral business. He said The adulterator is not one of us.
The crime of those selling adulterated and unhygienic food items is very serious and strict action needs to be taken as per law against such guilty persons. Anti-adulteration drive should be carried out throughout the year in the country with special focus on factories of oil, ghee, and spices, on chicken, meat, restaurants, bakeries and fast food outlets. The government should enact and enforce stringent laws to curb misleading advertisements and adulteration to guard the consumers interest. The mass media should be used to highlight and expose the adulterators.
