A commendable move to ensure food safety

Photo: AFP

The recent initiative of food minister to set up Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) with a view to preventing food adulteration and ensuring food safety is a very positive move. The widespread use of formalin and chemical preservatives in all types of food stuffs has been posing serious health hazards. Producers and marketers apply this harmful substance to preserve and forcibly ripen fruits. Food adulteration causes cancer, kidney disorder, skin disease and birth defects, etc. We know from newspapers that BFSA will have five divisions such as Surveillance & Enforcement Division, Food Safety Laboratory Division, Quality Assurance (CODEX) Division, Risk Assessment & Communication Division, and Resources and Support Division. We do hope that these divisions will work very sincerely and ensure adulteration-free food stuff right from the production to consumption. Regular meetings and dialogues with the producers and marketers and mass people could be very useful as their involvement in the entire process is really important to make it a success. Finally, I would like to thank the food minister for taking such noble steps to save the people of Bangladesh from this menace.