Long wait for new law

A mobile court tests mangoes to check for toxic chemicals at a warehouse in Karwan Bazar in the capital. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

Consumers remain exposed to the risk of food adulteration, as the government sits on the draft of a new law for checking unbridled adulteration in food items.
No significant progress has been made in replacing the age-old Pure Food Ordinance, 1959 even nine months into the government's move to enact a new law with a maximum punishment of death sentence for food adulteration.
The existing system of food quality control involves as many as 15 ministries with 10 of them directly taking part in inspection and enforcement of law, giving them the scope for shifting responsibility on each other.
However, officials yesterday told The Daily Star that the draft law proposes giving the entire responsibility to the food ministry alone, and it was ready to be placed in the cabinet for approval.
In a recent meeting, Food Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque said, "We are now exposed to extreme risks of health hazards mostly due to adulteration in food. Many people are suffering from cancer  . . .  a tough law to prevent adulteration appeared very crucial."
Officials indicated that the draft law would be placed soon in the cabinet with a provision for setting up a body under the food ministry to ensure food safety in the light of the US Food and Drug Administration.
As the authorities have been lax in bringing the culprits to book, people continue to fall victim to food adulteration.
After days of hiatus, the authorities conducted a drive against food adulteration yesterday, a day after a green group came up with a report that excessive formalin was found in seasonal fruits on sale at shops in different areas in the capital.
A mobile court comprised of Rab personnel, and officials of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and the Department of Fisheries, launched the drive, and found presence of excessive formalin in mangoes in six of eight shops in Karwan Bazar, the largest wholesale kitchen market in the capital.
It fined five shop owners and an employee Tk 2 lakh each, and awarded the owners 15 days of imprisonment for selling formalin-tainted mangoes.
If any of them fail to pay the fine, he will have to spend one more month in prison, said Executive Magistrate AHM Anwar Pasha, who led the drive.
At least 4,000 kilograms of formalin-tainted mangoes were destroyed following the court's order.
Maj Anwarul Haque, second in command of Rab-2, said they would keep an eye on traders to prevent the use of formalin in fruits.
Fruit shop owner Akkas Ali, who was sentenced to 15 days' imprisonment, said he brought the mangoes from Chuadanga, but he did not check whether formalin was used on them.
"We had told the suppliers not to use any chemicals in fruits," he said.
Mahbubul Alam, president of a fruit traders' association in Karwan Bazar, said they would take necessary steps to prevent traders from using formalin in fruits.
Chemicals like formalin and pesticides have long-term effects on human body, and may cause cancer, liver cirrhosis and kidney failure, said Prof Mahmudur Rahman, director of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.
GM Shamsul Kabir, project director of Control of Formalin Use in Fish Preservation and Mass Awareness Campaign Project, said if anyone takes formalin-tainted fruits, he may suffer from skin diseases and diarrhoea. Formalin-tainted fruits also damage the immune system.
FAO ASSESSMENT
Under a project titled "Improving Food Safety, Quality and Food Control in Bangladesh", the FAO three years ago assessed the capacity of the ministries and agencies involved in food inspection and enforcement.
The assessment revealed food inspection in Bangladesh is not based on risk assessment, and inspections don't cover the entire food chain.
On certification of food standards by BSTI, participants at a FAO-organised meeting noted that the existing standards are to a large extent obsolete, quality oriented and overlapping and don't cover the most common food products.
Limited coordination and communication between the enforcement agencies has been identified as one of the main food inspection challenges.
The lack of coordination between the agencies is considered a cause of both gaps in inspection and overlapping of enforcement activities.