Editorial
Harmful chemicals in food items
Call for tough measures
The photograph on the front page of The Daily Star on Friday is explicit enough to suggest that adulteration of food items is going on in the country. The tell-tale photograph reveals how ghee (butter oil), a sought-after commodity during Eid, is being made with spurious ingredients to sell in the markets under various brand names. It is no secret now that the ingredients used by the unscrupulous traders to enhance look, fragrance and taste are chemicals that are harmful to human body.
What raises our concern is the fact that until netted by the government officials these corrupt-to-the-core manufacturers have been feeding their fellow humans harmful chemicals without any qualm whatsoever. Only the other day one media report revealed how textile dye was being used in lollypop ice cream made for children, while another report showed damaging ingredients being mixed with spices used for cooking traditional curries. The list of adulterated food items also includes fish, milk, yoghurt, sweetmeat, fruits etc., which people consume on a daily basis. Physicians and biochemists are of the opinion that many chemicals used in food items do not belong to food grade variety. These, according to them, damage our liver and kidneys, and can even cause cancer.
It needs no emphasising that adulteration of food items with harmful chemicals has reached a crisis level. But what shocks us beyond belief is the fact that unscrupulous traders had been peddling such products under the very eye of the supervising agencies for years together. Though there has been some visible effect in curbing the incidence of adulteration after the recent mobile court raids, a great deal more is needed to address the enormity of the malady.
We feel a sustained and tough crackdown on these fiends is an imperative necessity. The inspectors of the relevant department must be held to account for any slack in their work.
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