Food safety remains under strain

Arecent study by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has unearthed some very disturbing systemic faults in the newly enacted Safe Food Act 2013 and in agencies responsible for tackling adulteration. Adulteration remains a grave public health issue with at least 4.5 million people directly affected by consumption of tampered foods in the country. What has come to light is that the capital city has no less than ten agencies which have some responsibility to tackle this menace but there is little coordination between them. Even more worrying is that officials from various agencies are alleged to be susceptible to graft.
Though the government has recently recruited personnel to check food adulteration in upazillas where food is grown and shipped to the capital city, rules and regulations governing their activity and jurisdiction are yet to be formulated. With so many loopholes and the existence of a systematic regime of graft, it is little wonder that adulterators manage to slip through the system without much worry and public health remains at risk. Though the new Food Act looks fine on paper, a key element has been left out, and that is the provision of forming food courts. The whole idea of this Act was to discourage adulterating syndicates from carrying out this harmful activity, but as food courts are now no longer mandatory and no harsh prison terms to speak of, we are not sure how this will help fight against adulteration. We strongly urge the government to revisit the law and make amendments necessary to combat the adulteration menace.