From the Bangladeshi legal paradigm, in a strict sense, the word `adulteration’ has not been defined in anywhere of the laws prescribed. Nonetheless, by the practices, food adulteration in Bangladesh means adding harmful chemicals, toxic colors or harmful additives with the food. Section 3(1) of The Pure Food Ordinance, 1959, has disclosed under its clauses (a) to (h),eight circumstances under which an article of food shall be deemed to be “adulterated” ifa) any substance has been mixed and packed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality or strength, or b) any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for it, or c) any of the normal constituents has been wholly or in part abstracted so as to render it injurious to health, or d) it is mixed, colored, powdered, coated or stained in a manner whereby damage or inferiority is concealed, or e) it does not comply with any standard provided by or under this Ordinance or any other law for the time being in force, or f) it contains or is mixed or diluted with any substance in such quantity as is to the prejudice of the purchaser or consumer or in such proportion as diminishes in any manner the food value or nutritive qualities which it possesses in its pure, normal and sound condition, or g) it contains any poisonous or deleterious ingredient including radiation which may render it injurious to health, or h) it is not of the nature, substance or quality which it purports to be or which it is represented to be by the manufacturer or the seller. 6 Food borne diseases or food poisoning is mainly caused by pathogenic (harmful) bacteria, virus, or chemical toxins in food or water. Some of these microbes infect our bodies and hamper growth. The end result is illness and in very severe cases food poisoning may even cause death. An expert say that food that looks smells and tastes fine can cause food poisoning, if it has not been correctly prepared with genuine ingredients or not handled correctly or has been contaminated in some way. A great proportion of breaches of food safety lie in introduction of artificial or hazardous substances in food products or a food handler preparing food without washing their hands properly. According to the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act, 1938, a food is "adulterated" if it meets any one of the following criteria:
a) it contains poisonous or deleterious substance causing injury to the health; or b) its container is composed of any poisonous or deleterious substance, or c) it contains - a) unsafe pesticide chemical residue, b) unsafe food additive, c) unsafe new animal drug, or d) unsafe color additive; or d) it consists of "any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance” or is otherwise unfit as food; or e) it has been prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions ( for example, insect, rodent, or bird infestation), or f) it has been improperly irradiated ; or g) it contains a risky & improper dietary ingredients (for example, foods or h) dietary supplements containing aristolochic acids which are liable for kidney failure); or i) a valuable constituent in the food has been omitted in whole or in part or replaced with another substance (for instance, olive oil diluted with tea tree oil), conceals damage or inferiority in any manner (such as fresh fruit with food coloring on its surface to conceal defects); or any substance has been added to it or packed with it to increase product’s bulk or weight, reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear bigger or of greater value than it is (for example, scallops to which water has been added to make them heavier).7 4. Nature of Food Adulteration in Bangladesh Adulteration may occur in simple three following basic patterns: (a) By adding anything (various kinds of adulterants) with the food to deteriorate from the nature, substance and quality of the food desired by the purchaser; (b)By removing or reducing and substituting any element or ingredient from the food to deteriorate from the nature, substance and quality of the food desired by the purchaser; (c)By false representation of a completely different item to be a food of specific kind. Firstly, adding adulterant is the main cause of food adulteration. Adulterants can be anything that will decrease the quality of the product. The addition of adulterant in food may be intentional or accidental. But generally the adulterate addition is intentional. The major reason for the intentional addition of these adulterants is for increasing the profit margin on the expense of the health of the public or consumer. If the adulterant is naturally present in a food in an amount not ordinarily making the food harmful for health, the food will not be deemed as adulterated.8 Adulterants may be solids, chemicals, liquids, coloring substances and preservative:- Solids like sands, chalk-powder, crushed rocks, seeds of similar crops, bricks powder, wood powder, tamarind seed powder, detergent powder etc are mixed with grains or with powdery substances to increase the weight;
The use of this chemical for this purpose is illegal in Bangladesh like most other countries. Preservatives- As per the rule 2(g) of the Pure Food Rules, 1967, Preservatives means `any substance which is capable of inhibiting, retarding or arresting the process of fermentation, acidification or other decomposition or deterioration of food.’ A preservative is a substance that is added to food to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or by undesirable chemical.9 a. Coloring/flavoring reagents like textile and synthetic colors, dyes and pigments, toxic artificial flavor etc are added to improve the color of food items. These are added to food to give an attractive appearance. The gloss of these coloring and flavoring reagents in food item make them more bright and eye catcher and allure the purchasers to buy it. b. Pesticides and Insecticide are used at the time of farming of the plants or herbs for the purpose of the pest control. This is an indirect way of food adulteration like using growth hormone on the plants or herbs to enhance the production of the corps or fruits etc. DDT (di-chloro di-phenyl tri-chloro ethane), various chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons and synthetic organic compounds etc are widely used in these purposes. These tend to persist in the plants or the environment at a whole as a residue and become concentrated in animals and human being at the head of the food chain. Secondly, adulteration may also happen by removing or reducing and substituting a fair part or any ingredient of the food item, for instance- removing milk fat from the cow milk and buffalo milk to lower down its quality. Any food item (Sweetmeat, Sweetball, Kalakand, Channa, Curd, Yogurt, Cream etc) made of that kind of cow milk or buffalo milk never can reach the food value and fall very short of specified milk fat required and eventually results in adulterated food. Thirdly, sometimes a completely different kind of thing can be represented as food item of a specified kind. For example- condensed milk as we know it in our country has no element of milk at all in it. BSTI’s license conditions requires that- the condensed milk must contain 8% milk fat, extracted either from cow or buffalo milk.10 The Pure Food Ordinance has a higher standard than those of BSTI in case of Condensed Milk. In the year 2003 the condensed milk producing companies in Bangladesh demanded making a new standard for them by BSTI so that they could produce condensed milk with vegetable fat, arguing that such production is seen in Malaysia. Considering the health consequences, the BSTI rejected the appeal, prompting the companies to file a writ petition with the court that is yet to settle the case. Thus, the companies continued producing and marketing condensed milk with palm or soya bean fat. Then water, palm stearin (instead of edible palm oil) and sugar are added to makecondensed milk which is simply poisoning the people as the palm stearin is not edible; it is used in detergent making!
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