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Food Adulteration

Nationwide drive soon

M Rahman
The government is going to launch drives to contain food contamination and adulteration in and outside the capital, amid growing concerns over food safety.
Mobile courts will operate at the points of origin, markets, shops and warehouses, said a home ministry circular on Monday.
The circular was sent to the district and upazila administrations and metropolitan authorities across the country, asking them to take steps for coordinated and extensive drives against chemical contamination and adulteration of food.
It came over one and a half months after the cabinet committee made the decision on July 21. The delay was caused by bureaucratic tangle, sources said.
Asked why the ministry took this long to issue the circular, a top home ministry official said they had to prepare it and then send it to the public administration ministry for approval, which took time.
"The circular is effective from the date of its issuance and the driveswill continue
until the government thinks that desired success has been achieved," Habibur Rahman, a deputy secretary of the home ministry, told The Daily Star yesterday.
However, he did not explain what the "desired success" means.
The circular instructed the authorities to hand the highest jail term and also fine those guilty of food adulteration and contamination.
Inability of the district magistrates in taking proper steps in line with the circular will be treated as their failure and it will be conveyed to the cabinet division.
The circular instructed government hospital
authorities to maintain registers having specific information on the date of their imports, quantity and usage of formalin.
For import licences, businesses will have to collect at least two clearance certificates from two government agencies. The same rule applies for sale and usage of formalin.
To conduct the drive, each district headquarters will have a 27-member committee with the district magistrate as its president, each upazila will have a 19-member committee with the local lawmaker as its chief adviser and each metropolitan area will have a 21-member committee with the police commissioner as its
president.
The district magistrates, with the help of the executive magistrates, will collect information about adulteration and contamination of food. They will then prepare a plan for the drives.
The circular directed the magistrates to send monthly reports to the PMO, the cabinet division and the home ministry stating the number of mobile courts conducted, the number of arrests and cases and the amount of fine realised.
It also asked the authorities concerned to launch a campaign on the adverse impact of food contamination and adulteration using local and national media.