Ethics

 We secured official permission from the Chief Health Officer of DCC and the Director General of BSTI for obtaining food sample testing results. We did not collect any brand name of the tested food samples for ethical concern. We obtained informed verbal consent from the respondents before conducting the interviews. The study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh, in collaboration with icddr,b.

Of the tested food samples, 100% of samples of the popular sweetmeat Rosogolla was found to be adulterated while most of the other sweetmeats, including Sandesh, Chhana, Kheer, and Malai were also adulterated at different levels (data not shown). Dalda/Banaspati (hydrogenated vegetable oil) is another food item persistently found adulterated (100% in 2001, 2003, and 2004; 97% in 2002 and 2005). Twenty-eight food items were not adulterated during 2001-2005, and 12 of these items were not tested at least for one year thereafter. No milk powder, cream, maida (wheat flour), fruit juice/squash, pickle, coriander seed, bread, cake, biscuit, sugar, honey, lozenge or jorda (smokeless tobacco) was found adulterated by the PHFL in 2005. Nine food items were not tested in the following year even after these were found to be adulterated during 2001-2004. The number of food samples tested each year varied from a single sample to 232 samples of the same food item.

According to the PHFL officials, conforming to a test parameter does not necessarily ensure purity of a food item. The manufacturers can manipulate by adding artificial ingredients to food items so that the test results are within acceptable limits. For example, in pasteurized milk, instead of milk protein, they can add cheaper vegetable protein, like soy protein and get test result within the expected limit.

In 2005, 12 brands of juices from 8 companies were collected from different markets of Dhaka by CAB and tested at BSTI as per Bangladesh Standards where 11 (92%) of the 12 samples had BSTI certification mark, although 8 (73%) of them failed to conform to the standard. Two orange juices had no fruit juice at all, and two juices had the preservative sulphur dioxide at more than the permitted level of 10 ppm. One brand of mango juice was substandard and did not have BSTI certification mark. The labels on the package also lacked information on percentage of the ingredients (58%), production date (25%), and expiry date (17%) (13).

Only 8 (13%) out of 62 brands of salt collected from different markets across the country by BSTI and tested at the laboratory conformed to BSTI standard (Box 2) (14). During 2005-2006, a total of 135 samples of mineral water, iodized salt, juice, soybean oil, mustard oil, and banaspati/ghee were collected from the market and tested. Among those, 90 (67%) did not conform to the Bangladesh Standard (BDS), and BSTI took actions, such as issuing of show-cause notice, penalty, and cancellation of license.