Access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food is essential to sustain a better life and maintaining good health. Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemical substances which may cause more than 200 different diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancer. It also leads to a vicious cycle of diseases and starvation, which adversely impact new-borns, young children, elderly, and the sick. Every year, an estimated 600 million people – nearly 1 in 10 – become severely ill after eating contaminated food, resulting in 420,000 deaths and the loss of 33 million healthy life years worldwide .
Due to the densely populated environment, underdeveloped infrastructure, and poor water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions, the prevalence of foodborne diseases and other food safety concerns is significantly higher in Bangladesh.
A Bangladeshi evaluation of food safety concerns found a significant prevalence of disease-causing bacteria in street-vended food, adulterated food, and food cooked with polluted water, as well as in filthy and unhygienic environments. These unhealthy foods are a significant cause of diarrheal diseases and malnutrition in Bangladesh.
In 2015, there were approximately 0.28 million incidents of acute watery diarrhea, 30,000 cases of enteric fever, and 500 cases of acute hepatitis in Bangladesh, according to the IEDCR’s foodborne illness surveillance system . Especially, the extent of attacks and deaths from diarrhea has become alarming for the last couple of years in Bangladesh.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) report reveals the severity of the diarrheal conditions and indicates that this health problem is most
ly caused by unhealthy foodstuffs. The DGHS report suggests that from 1 March, 2022 until 10 April, 2022, Dhaka Hospital of icddr,b treated more than 42,000 diarrhea patients which is a historical record-high number of patients .
The dietary balance is particularly important for adolescent girls and patients, who need nutrients for growth and recovery. Even different patient needs different dietary balance for proper recovery. In Bangladesh, the number of undernourished hospital patients is unacceptable, resulting due to longer hospital stays, delayed rehabilitation, and unavoidable health-care expenses.
On the other hand, the food, provided to the resident students of different universities, is less costly, but most of the time, lacks proper nutrition. According to a research, one residential student consumes 1,821 kilo calories per day on average. But, nutritionists, on the contrary, recommend that a university student should consume 2,800 kilo calories .
According to the Food Safety Act of 2013 , the BFSA is responsible for analyzing scientific and technical information about human health risks; developing risk assessment methods and cooperating with international organizations on food safety, quality, and testing; and harmonizing safety and quality standards with international food articles. But this law is not properly implemented yet.
The presence of different types of antibiotics in almost 50% of poultry feed samples of 14 brands gathered from four districts in Bangladesh were found in a study conducted by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council and Patuakhali Science and Technology University.
These samples were tested at a certified lab in India which revealed that the levels of antibiotics are not complimentary to human health, carrying 5,066.85ppm (parts per million) level of Chlortetracycline in poultry feed whereas the permissible level of Chlortetracycline in poultry feed is 0.2ppm.
Analysis of policy and program hints towards weak implementation and limited coverage of policies, strategies, and guidelines.
However, to ensure access to safe, and sufficient nutritious food, promoting nutrition action in health systems together with establishment of science-based food standards is important. Collaborative initiation is required to raise awareness and mobilize action to prevent, identify, and manage foodborne risks in order to promote human health.
Dr. Shamim Talukder is CEO, Eminence, Bangladesh
