10pc food in the market is sub-standard

IPeople have doubts concerning the quality of food bought from the market. According to data found in the sample tests of the heath department's Institute of Public Health (IPH), 10 per cent of the food available in the market is not of proper quality.

In between January and December of 2021, a total of 1,133 samples of 56 different types of food, collected from various districts and upazilas across the country, were tested in the IPH lab.

Of this 1,019 food samples were found to be of standard quality and 114 of the samples were of poor quality. This means, although 10 per cent of the foodstuff is not of proper quality, people are buying these from the market and consuming this food.

Public health experts consider sub-standard food as a public health issue. Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director, disease control, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told Prothom Alo, “People are at risk of malnutrition because of poor quality food. There is also the risk of falling ill.”

There are two institutions that determine the standard of food in the country. One is Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI) and the other is Bangladesh Food Safety Authority. These institutions determine what ingredients are supposed to be present in various food and in what quantity.

Again, there are criteria for exactly when the presence of an ingredient in excessive quantity makes a certain food unsafe. Officials of the Institute of Public Health said they check whether the ingredients are present in the food as per the set standard.

Sanitary inspectors in all districts and upazilas of the country collect water and food samples from local markets throughout the year and send them to the Institute of Public Health for testing.

Constantly testing the quality of water and foodstuff is the Institute of Public Health's regular job. These tests give an idea of food and water quality across the whole country.

The Institute of Public Health tests the quality of 85 different types of food. Last year 1,511 samples of 56 food types were sent to them for testing. Of them, 377 were not fit for testingt in untestable condition. So, in all 1,133 samples were tested last year.

Seven samples of liquid milk were tested within a year. Out of the seven, four were not found to be of standard quality. Public health institute says that 57 per cent liquid milk is of poor quality. After testing four samples of butter oil they found half of them to be sub-standard.

Out of five samples of honey, two samples or 40 per cent were not of appropriate quality. Testing 36 samples of soybean oil it was seen that four samples of 11 per cent of them were below standard.

Other than liquid food, the quality of local sweets such as chamcham, kalojam and rasagulla are the worst. A total of 13 samples of such sweets came to the lab while, 11 of them were not fit for testing. Only one of the samples of sweet was standard in quality.

The highest number of samples tested was of salt. From testing 290 samples, it was seen that 246 samples were standard. In other words, 44 samples or 15 per cent of the total samples were not appropriate for consumption.

Out of 127 samples of turmeric powder 29 samples or 23 per cent were found to be of bad quality. From testing 77 samples of chilli powder 10, or 13 per cent were not found to be of standard quality. Ten samples of gram flour were tested by them. Three of those samples were tested to be inedible.

Keeping 15 March, World Consumer Rights Day ahead, results of two separate researches on food quality were published at a programme organised by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) on 14 march.

On that day it was said that samples of chips, biscuits, fried peas and moong beans, chocolates, ice-cream, lozenges, french fries, fried chickens, chutney and soft drinks contained harmful chemical substances.

Md Khalequzzaman, associate professor of public health and informatics department at BSMMU was involved in one of those researches.

Regarding public health institutes’ food-quality test results he said to Prothom Alo, “There are misgivings in peoples’ minds about the standard quality of food. We found the presence of harmful elements in our food during research.”

“Even the public health institute is saying quality of some foods are not up to the mark. In this situation, there are no alternatives to strengthening the monitoring of the institutes involved in controlling and overseeing food quality,” he added.