Unsafe adulterated food bar to consumer rights

Md. Zillur Rahaman :
Yesterday was World Consumer Rights Day. In order to uphold the rights and interests of consumers, the day was celebrated in Bangladesh like other countries through various events. Every human being needs safe, unadulterated and nutritious food for good health but getting unadulterated safe food in Bangladesh is the main bar in the way of consumer rights. It has become difficult to obtain clean food in Bangladesh. As things stand, we have lost the taste of real food by eating adulterated food. It always seems as if we are knowingly consuming poison. What fruit, what fish meat or baby food, everything is adulterated.
Food adulteration with chemicals toxic to public health has reached epidemic proportions. Consumers and food experts have identified it as the ‘silent killer’. Finding a safe, adulterant-free food item on the menu is not only very difficult, but also rare and difficult. From raw vegetables and fruits to milk, milk products, fish, meat and processed foods – every food item is contaminated and adulterated and poses a serious threat to life. New formulas and new versions of various food adulterations are published almost daily in the newspapers. Carbohydrates, formalin, heavy metals, chemicals, textile dyes, artificial sweeteners, urea etc. are widely used as food adulterants.
In the long run, these chemicals in food can severely affect vital organs like liver and kidney, leading to organ damage or cancer and thus premature death. The stark truth is that people of all walks of life are aware and aware of the dangers of consuming food adulterated with toxic chemicals, but this knowledge is rarely applied and practiced. However, there is no dearth of laws and regulations for food adulteration in Bangladesh. Such as fake licenses, poor quality of food, poor infrastructure and lack of hygiene, food adulteration, food impurity, wrong information about food packages, sale of products with expired dates etc. various contamination and adulteration aids.
According to the Health Department of Bangladesh, sixty percent of our population is kidney patients. Besides, 45 lakh people in the country are exposed to health risk by consuming adulterated and contaminated food and globally more than 66 crore people are getting sick due to consuming adulterated food every day and 4 lakh people are dying in this way every day. Several days ago, this terrible information was revealed during a human chain organized by a voluntary organization called Bangladesh Safe Food and Consumer Rights Movement in front of the National Press Club. This voluntary organization creates public awareness against food adulteration and inspires people on how to inculcate moral and ethical standards in people.
Various other organizations like these are working to create awareness against food adulteration and protect consumer rights. Non-profit organizations like National Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection, Fresh Food for All (FFA), Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) are some of them. The government has enacted various laws to prevent food adulteration, such as the Consumer Rights Protection Act, Safe Food Protection Act, Formalin Control Act is the most notable and these laws carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
It may be noted here that a High Court Bench of the Bangladesh Supreme Court directed the Anti-Corruption Commission on February 11, 2019 to take strict legal action against the culprits after investigating the adulteration of milk, curd and cattle. The court directed the authorities concerned to form a committee to find out whether adulterated products and livestock feed contain lead, antibiotics, bacteria, pesticides or other substances harmful to human body. The order was very relevant to such adulteration and it is mainly responsible for the loss of human health and life. But the extent to which this has been implemented is very unclear and rare for consumers.
In fact, the ultimate truth is that we lose the taste of real food when we eat contaminated or adulterated food. Adulteration of food with toxic chemicals is a serious criminal offense and these criminals are playing with the lives of consumers. These unscrupulous criminals have no feelings and should show no mercy to anyone. They are actually cold-blooded killers and are silently killing thousands of consumers by poisoning their lives with poisonous, contaminated and adulterated food.
In fact, poison free food safety should be the first priority above everything as it is the most basic need for every life. Short sentences or awareness programs of mobile courts are not enough for these culprits, but those who deliberately mix poison in food or market adulterated products, are basically robbing people’s lives and for this they should be punished by death sentence or severe public punishment should be set. At the same time, public awareness through public and private initiatives is also very important to ensure consumer rights against adulterated food.

(The writer is a banker).