With an aim to address the challenge of food contamination Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) is now engaging with the city corporations to establish model kitchen markets in big cities.

Speaking at a safe food conference held at Krishibid Institute in the capital yesterday BFSA Chairman Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque said, "We're engaging with the concerned city corporations to set up healthy, model markets in big cities." He didn't offer any timeframe though that how soon those are going to be established.

BFSA chief said food contamination is posing more challenge than the adulteration of food. "What we see in our kitchen markets is live birds are culled and dipped in same water over and over again thereby, posing serious risks of contamination."

He said the Authority that the government had established in 2015 in line with the 2013 Safe Food Act "is now trying to be proactive rather than reactive." He explained the newfound philosophy that instead of trying people for marketing unsafe food, they would rather try to set rules of the game where people will follow good agricultural practices (GAP) and good marketing practices (GMP).

Bangladesh Food Safety Network (BFSN), a civil network of five non-government organisations, who champion the causes of safe food, organised the daylong safe food conference with the parliamentary standing committee chief on food ministry, Abdul Wadud Dara, attending as the chief guest.