Fruits not adulterated with formalin: experts

Many people avoid consuming fresh fruits for fear of formalin even though their stance has no scientific and evidence-based findings, said experts yesterday.

There is a perception that apple that is sold in the local markets are preserved with formalin, scientifically called formaldehyde, said Md Iqbal Rouf Mamun, member of the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority.

“But apple naturally produces formaldehyde -- in its waxy skin. And that formalin is completely safe to consume.”

When the apple is sold at the retail level, another layer of wax coating is given, an internationally recognised practice, he said.

Many food items such as apple, banana, carrot, bulb vegetables like onion, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, spinach, tomato, pear, potato, watermelon, beef, poultry, shrimp contain formaldehyde, according to the World Health Organisation.

Even humans produce formaldehyde naturally and it is necessary for basic biological functions involved in metabolism like in the production of certain amino acid.

Exposure to high levels of formaldehyde is dangerous but that only be achieved through inhalation in industrial settings, according to the Centre for Food Safety of Hong Kong.

“Formalin is not an issue at all for us,” he said at a roundtable on good agriculture practice for ensuring safe food, jointly organised by the supermarket Shwapno and The Daily Star at its office in Dhaka.

Quizzed if artificial colour is used in watermelons, Mamun said the BFSA tried to inject artificial colour in a watermelon and found that the colour it had injected did not spread across the fruit; it remained fixed at a point.

He said a Dhaka University study in 2017 on 50 watermelon samples collected from different markets in Dhaka also found that no presence of artificial colour.

“So what we need is scientific awareness,” he said.

Another problem is the absence of internationally accredited laboratories.

As a result, the results obtained from labs in Bangladesh are not uniform.

“You run the same tests on the same sample in two accredited labs and you would get two different results. This is not the case abroad. There, the results are the same.”

Mamun, who teaches chemistry at Dhaka University, said the real problem with fruits and vegetables is the extensive use of pesticide during their cultivation.

It is necessary to see whether they contain heavy metals above the maximum residue limit, which is unsafe for human health. Foods can also be contaminated owing to heavy metal contamination in soil, he added.

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) is responsible for advising farmers about input use and production practice, said AKM Nurul Afsar, national team leader of Food and Agriculture Organisation's food safety project in Bangladesh.

“But when farmers do not get the right prescription from the DAE about the doses of pesticide application they go to salesmen, whose motive is to increase sales.”

Without food safety food security cannot be ensured, he added.

Farmers have to practice safe use of pesticides so that residues are low, said Kristian Moeller, chief executive officer of GlobalG.A.P., which provides certification of agricultural products.

“Wrong use of pesticide can kill,” he said, adding that education of farmers on good agriculture practice is the root. To encourage successful scaling up of good practices, Moeller recommended establishment of a central quality control hub, where farm produces will be taken for cleaning before selling to consumers.

Paul Bundick, chief of party of Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) Project of USAID in Bangladesh, stressed on ensuring traceability of farm produce to ensure food safety.

Some 90-95 percent of farm produce go to the wet markets and no traceability can be found there, he said. The challenge is in how to scale up awareness, said Ashraf Bin Taj, managing director of International Distribution Company Bangladesh.

The quality of farm produce starts to deteriorate after harvests for lack of knowledge among the stakeholders in the supply chain on how to handle the produce. A certain price guarantee or incentive will give motivation to quality farming and quality management, he added.

Building awareness from farmers to consumers is critical, said Sabbir Hasan Nasir, executive director of ACI Logistics that run Shawpno.

“But building awareness is expensive. What is more expensive is not doing it.”

Nasir urged the government to come up with incentives to promote good practices. “Incentive design matters and it works.”

Shwapno has got Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification few months ago. The country's largest supermarket chain also became a member of GlobalG.A.P. in 2017 to attain local certification.

With the support from USAID's AVC project, Shwapno trained 200 farmers from Jessore and Jhenaidah to follow the government-approved agricultural practices including prevention of usage of banned chemicals and plant protection products and ensuring approved pesticides within safe limits.

And the retail chain started showcasing crops in some of it stores under the brand of Shuddho.

At present, 78 farmers are supplying 12 crops and these are displayed and sold through 15 Shawpno stores. 

Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, said the newspaper is committed to the cause of food safety and ready to support stakeholders working to ensure food safety.

Shahedul Anam Khan, associate editor of The Daily Star; Anwar Kamal, project coordinator at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Sardar Ali Mourtaza, chief executive of Agriplus also spoke at the discussion moderated by Sajjadur Rahman, business editor of The Daily Star.