Editorial
Food safety concern
A well-defined, mandated authority needed to address it
Neither the BSTI, the DCC, the commerce ministry, the business representative bodies nor any other authority have been able to make any impression on the public mind that the food we eat is safe for human consumption. The reality is starkly to the contrary.
The memory of child food contamination and its fallout is too fresh in our mind to be amnesiac about. Added to that scandal which laid bare the risk that child health has been prey to, is the whole lot of toxic fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry that we consume on a daily basis. They pose serious hazards to public health and the future of our progeny.
In recent months dreadful details about edibles mixed with toxic chemicals have emerged from various laboratory tests and to the plain eye sending shock waves across the nation. It is a nightmarish thought to entertain as to how dehumanised the dealers in food have become with profiteering getting the better of a minimum social commitment on their part.
While the phenomenon of chemically mixed food has been pervasive, the revelation about it has been rather sporadic and accidental in that only when mobile courts carried out raids that a hue and cry would be raised over the horrific magnitude of food adulteration. The usual rituals have been to impose fine on the recalcitrant and publicly destroy contaminated food stuffs including fruits. Then when the dusts settle, adulteration is back with vengeance and unsafe edibles have to be swallowed all over again.
Little wonder, the incidence of liver and kidney diseases as well as of cancer is reportedly on the rise judging by the number of patients suffering from those landing in hospitals nowadays.
In this context, a specific recommendation from the seminar titled "Immensity and Horrible Effect of Toxic Food: Our Role" organised by the Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA) on Wednesday merits consideration. The speakers have urged the government to form a food safety council to check on food products in the market for their toxicity in an organised bid to apply a brake on hazardous food stuffs. We endorse the idea of a separate authority provided it is well constituted.
The council should not be a mere advisory body but one that will be empowered to initiate legal action against the menace of adulteration in any form or shape. Thus, it needs to be constituted with representatives from relevant professional groups, scientific community, civil society leaders and law enforcement authorities. That holds the key to end tokenism by way of a drive against food adulteration.
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