Noman Mosharef :
Markets have been flooded with contaminated and stale foods. Those who have restaurants, hotels or makeshift shops run the business in most cases with sub-stranded and unhealthy foods. However, they pay price when checked and approached by the mobile courts about the quality of foods. The courts impose penalty or give jail or award both.
Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) has revealed this picturesque of country’s food sector. The organization operated about 1,530 mobile courts in 2020-2021 fiscal year. So, far they filed cases against 2,870 institutions, fined 2,199 people and jailed 131 people. Out of BFSA’s 1,530 drives, 162 were operated in the capital where 157 cases were filed and all the institutions were fined. In FY 2019-2020 BFSA been conducted 134 mobile court and filed 137 cases while in FY 2018-2019 55 drives were conducted and 69 cases were filed. This statistics show
after operating mobile court in any institution, the irregularities are common.
On the other hand, BFSA’s Lab Network Coordination wing has revealed information on alarming situation about unsafe food in the country.
Their statistics said that in FY 2020-2021, they collected 2,760 food item specimens from around the country. After testing 2,354 samples, 268 food items did not meet the required standard.
In FY 2019-2020 Lab Network Coordination wing had done same operation where 2,119 samples were collected and 1,731 were tested where 196 food items failed to overcome the required standard.
After comparative analysis, it seems that sub-standard food items availability has gone up in the market.
Md. Abdul Kayowm Sarker, Chairman of the BFSA said the tendency of the cooking sub-standard food items in the country is growing. But we are trying to come out and make remedy about the problem. Fine and jail are not our objectives but to show consciousness and build responsibility of the people.
The low quality and contaminated foods are the main tools for making hazardous situation in the country’s health sector.
In a research the non-government organisation Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba) said about three lakh people have been affected by cancer due to contaminated food. There research further said about two lakh people are affected by kidney disease, one and half lakh with diabetes.
The most alarming findings in Poba’s research that about 1.5 million autistics children are getting birth in every year due to contaminated food.
Furthermore, along with the BFSA, the Bangladesh Standards & Testing Institution (BSTI), Directorate of National Consumers’ Right Protection, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and other government agency had been operated about eight thousand mobile courts in last three years for securing food safety, according to Poba’s data.
About 25 thousand cases were filed and Tk 10 million fines were collected as fines but these initiatives did not make any differences to produce and marketing of unsafe food.
There have some loopholes with the authorities and for that such huge amount of fine were collected from businessmen claimed Bangladesh shop owners association President Helal Uddin.
He said authority is using such silly issue for making fine those is not related with food safety. As a result the businessmen have bound to pay fine without any argument.
