Food poisoning in Ctg

We cannot allow this event to pass off as an accident. Adulteration of food and marketing of substandard stuff, unfit for human consumption, have been taking place at an alarming rate. The report from Chittagong says that insecticides might have got mixed with the flour used to prepare the food. A doctor who attended the patients, however, believes that it might have been bacterial food poisoning which can occur if foods are prepared with stale and rotten things. Whatever might be the reason, the truth of the matter is that quality of foods is something that figures nowhere in our scheme of public health. Regrettably, the decision-makers and law enforcers are showing an inexplicable indifference to the issue. Adulteration of foods and application of carcinogenic materials for keeping things fresh have reached such a stage that it is hardly possible for the buyers to get pure and safe foodstuff. The prices are spiralling while the quality is falling drastically. Doctors and experts have told us time and again that many of the gastrointestinal diseases that people are suffering from these days have a lot to do with regular intake of adulterated foods. But who is there to listen to them?

We focussed on this issue many times in the past, but the situation has not really changed over the years. It seems the authorities respond only when something goes awfully wrong. But there is nobody to do anything about the slow poisoning that is pushing millions of people towards death. The health authorities owe an explanation for this criminal neglect of an important area of public concern. It is not known why they can stop the unscrupulous elements responsible for adulteration and use of non-food grade colours and preservatives that can cause great harm to the consumers. The law enforcers must actfirmly to put a brake on all such activities.

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