Surprisingly, food adulteration in Bangladesh reaches its peak during the holy month of Ramadan. Since food adulteration is already considered a heinous act, it is beyond comprehension that illicit traders find it amusing to exploit the gastronomic enthusiasm of Bangladeshis who abstain from taking any food till evening for one whole month.
Essential foodstuffs such as vegetables, fruits and edible oil alongside fish, meat and various delicacies are indiscriminately adulterated with chemical substances. People fasting are more likely to experience a natural attraction toward impressive 'iftars' displayed by street-side vendors. However, they hardly realise that the toxic residues in those foodstuffs can leave a deadly impact on human body and delay the mental and physical growth of children.
Experts opine that food adulteration has maximised in the last few years due to the desire for a swift profit and moral degradation among food traders following an overall increase in food consumption and market expansion. Since July 2015, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) launched 796 specific drives and filed 1,164 cases against tradesmen found guilty of food adulteration, while mobile courts sentenced 33 people to different jail terms and sealed off 39 factories in addition to fining Tk47.3 million in total.
Recently, Bangladesh experienced an increase in patients suffering from cancer, diabetes and kidney diseases as a result of food adulteration. Shockingly, some food traders apply lethal chemicals to preserve certain foodstuffs whereas agricultural pesticides are even being used. Moreover, the Institute of Public Health (IPH) has detected food adulteration in all 43 consumer goods. Plus, 13 food items contains an adulteration rate of almost 100 per cent while the rest nearly 40 per cent.Â
Every Ramadan, people tend to consume more-than-normal spicy and oily food. Most of the ingredients of such food stuff are often adulterated with colouring agents chrome, tartzine, yellow and sudan-red colours, and erythrosine that cause cancer, allergy and respiratory problems. Meanwhile, an assortment of agricultural and industrial chemical products frequently ends up at wrong places - formalin, carbide, rye flour, urea and sulphuric acid are respectively applied to fish, fruits, bread, puffed rice and milk - casting prolonged illnesses such as nervous system disorder, chronic depression, asthma, cardiovascular disease and damages to liver and kidney. In Bangladesh, 'Jilapi' is traditionally consumed as a favourite dessert during the iftar sessions. Food traders exploit the overwhelming demand of jilapi by frying the sweetmeat with burnt engine oil and synthetic fragrance.
As food adulteration has a countrywide presence, law alone cannot erase such curse from the society. People from all walks of life should be aware of its dangers. Nothing will work unless sellers and buyers come to common grounds for eradicating such evils. Dishonest food traders must remember that even their children are not safe from adulterated foodstuff. Actually, children are the worst victims of food adulteration as they gradually face the deterioration of their bodies' immunity system and memory loss. If food adulteration increases rapidly, so does medical expenses - a dangerous impact on the country's socioeconomic conditions. Â Â
The government should continue to take strict measures against violators of food safety laws. Bangladesh cannot afford to bear an unhealthy and paralysed generation of youngsters while preserving the sanctity of Ramadan - at the same time!
nabil.dewan@gmail.com
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