Harmful effects of food adulteration

Food is one of the basic needs of human beings (food, clothing, shelter, education and health). There is no substitute for food to sustain life. Every human being needs pure and nutritious food for good health. And this pure food is essential for building a healthy and prosperous nation. But some unscrupulous traders and storekeepers are making it difficult to get pure food in Bangladesh. Law enforcement is struggling to control them.

Health risks in adulterated food products

According to a 1994 report by the US Environmental Protection Agency, formalin causes cancer in the lungs and pharynx. On October 1, 2004, the World Health Organization issued a press release blaming formalin for causing cancer in the throat area. Textile dyes, when mixed with food and drink, do not cause any damage to the body. However, the most visible damage is to our liver, kidneys, heart and bone marrow. Gradually these are ruined. Children and the elderly are ruined early, young people a little late.
Due to adulteration of food products, various types of cancer, liver cirrhosis, kidney failure, heart disease and asthma are on the rise in the country. And we are constantly seeing long lines of patients to specialist doctors. The seminar titled 'Toxic food is a threat to public health' of the Save the Environment movement said that about 300,000 people are getting cancer in the country every year as a result of consuming adulterated food alone. The number of people suffering from diabetes is 1 lakh 50 thousand, the number of people suffering from kidney disease is 2 lakh. Besides, the number of handicapped children with physical complications of pregnant mothers is about 1.5 million in the country.

Symptoms of eating chemically mixed or adulterated food include nausea and vomiting with abdominal pain, dizziness, thin stools or indigestion, increased sweating and weakening of the body, and decreased or increased pulse rate. Dhaka University Professor of Chemistry. Tajmeri SA Islam said urea and hydrogen are a type of alkali. When they enter the stomach, they produce peptin acid through a chemical reaction that causes various physical complications, including anorexia, loss of appetite, and inflammation of the large and small intestines. Dr. National Kidney Disease and Urology Institute. Ahmed Saiful Jabbar said that in metal based adulterated food, the kidneys can be completely crippled from a small amount. Digestive disorders, diarrhea and various complex diseases are more likely to occur due to adulterated food in the digestive tract. Dhaka Children's Hospital anesthesia. Md. Millat-i-Ibrahim said that the use of pesticides for the production of various vegetables and fruits has resulted in the poisoning of these foods for a certain period of time. Which remains intact even after cooking. Moreover, harmful carbides, industrial dyes, formalin, parathion are used to make a variety of delicious foods and fruits attractive and to preserve them for a long time. Taking them increases the risk of kidney, liver function, asthma and other complex diseases. Allergies, asthma, dermatitis, vomiting, headaches, food poisoning, loss of appetite, hypertension, brain stroke, kidney failure, heart attack, etc. are the most common diseases caused by adulterated food.

Formalin in fish and vegetables

Fish is being turned into a dangerous poison by mixing various chemicals including urea and formalin just for commercial gain. There is no chemical-free fish anywhere in the market. In the meanwhile harmful pirhana fish, giant magur, life-threatening cracker fish are being marketed by Deda. As if there is no one to stop. Occasionally, poisonous fish were seized and destroyed in a raid by a mobile court of the RAB. But the application of harmful chemicals to fish is not going to stop at all. Harmful chemicals are also being mixed in green vegetables freely. In wholesale warehouses, formalin was sprayed on the piles of fish or sprayed with chemically mixed water. No one now takes the risk of mixing chemicals in the yard for fear of the administration's surveillance. Formalin is applied from the fishing ground. Formalin is injected into relatively large fish while they are still fresh. And small fish can only be dipped in a drum of water mixed with formalin. Although the traders denied the use of formalin in the market, most of the shops in Soarighat Bazar in Old Dhaka used formalin freely. The warehouses are applying formalin to the fish by applying ice mixed with formalin in a fancy style. In this case, ice is made with water mixed with formalin. The fish is kept in that formalin ice all day long. Ice cubes made with plain water are pale white, formalin ice cubes are light brown in color.

Bakery unhealthy food products

Hundreds of bakery factories have sprung up all over the capital. Dirty environment with muddy, liquid dirt and garbage inside and outside every ink-smeared factory. Scattering of stench. Sewage piles in the vicinity. Mosquito-fly buzzing and the location of multiple raw-cooked toilets. The factories are housed in tinshed buildings. Many old shed tins have holes in them so that rain water enters the factory room effortlessly. The floor is slippery and muddy, mud is scattered on the food items, there is not enough light and air system in the factories, it is hot and suffocating. Bread, biscuits, cakes and other tempting food products are made there. There are allegations that in order to reduce the production cost, the food products of these bakeries use adulterated flour, flour, dalda, oil, rotten eggs and other low quality ingredients. Peppermint, soda and baking powder are kept there for making cakes and breads as well. The bakery also produces a variety of chemicals, including tallow, fatty acids and emulsifying, textile dyes, to keep food produced fresh. Deda uses adulterated flour, flour, dalda, oil and rotten eggs in the surrounding factories. The use of rotten eggs in bakeries is a common thing.

Toxic energy drinks and juices

BSTI does not give any approval for the production or marketing of any product called Energy Drinks. Despite this, Deda is conducting production activities in the factory by submitting an application to the BSTI office for approval. An official in charge of BSTI's chemical department said that the first condition for the production and bottling of any drink is to conduct the overall activities in the auto machine. Everything from boiling and refining the liquids at the prescribed temperature of 120 degrees Celsius to mixing and bottling is to be done continuously in the auto machine. But everything is being run in the so-called juice factories in a hammering manner.

Spices paint, brick and wood powder

In the hope of making more profit, a class of unscrupulous traders are mixing poisonous dyes used in spices, foul-smelling cracker pepper powder (low quality pepper), rice husk, brick and wood powder, pea pods and semolina etc. The information came out in the investigation of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) and Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB). Buyers are not only being deceived by buying adulterated spices, they are also creating serious health risks. Because harmful foods mixed with adulterated spices are responsible for causing cancer, kidney and liver diseases. According to the investigation, a class of traders is mixing brick powder with chilli powder which produces adulterated spices. Peas are being given in turmeric, wood powder of coriander and semolina is being given in poppy seeds. Special chemical dyes are being added to make the spice color attractive. This causes the salt of the powdered pepper to increase and the yellow color to become darker. Rice husk is being used to increase the weight of spices. The unscrupulous clique first produces adulterated spices in secret factories. Later it is packaged and supplied to the open market. They sell spices without some packets, in some ordinary packets and with some well-known company levels.

The result is a six-point chemical

From bananas, mangoes, papayas, guavas to apples, grapes, pears and almost all local and foreign fruits are being mixed with toxic chemicals. The bright colors of the common fruits and roots attract the attention of the buyers and they are also sold at higher prices. So calcium carbide is being used to ripen immature fruits and more alkali textile dyes are being used freely to convert it into bright colors. From the stage of the fruit tree to the moment it is sold in the market, one by one, six points of chemicals are used. The fruits are poisoned due to excessive spraying of gaseous ethylene and hormone ethylene and the use of calcium carbide. Traders claim that harmful chemicals are added to the fruit to attract buyers. On the other hand, some more toxins, including formalin, are used to preserve fruits for a long time. Due to the application of ethylene or calcium carbide, the fruit turns yellow within 2-4 days. In reality, these fruits seem to be ripe on the outside but remain immature on the inside. Later, due to eating the fruits, toxic chemicals spread in the human body and various diseases started. The taste and smell of immature fruits and vitamins are also reduced a lot. 

Carbide is the most Dangerous chemical used in fruit ripening.

After planting mangoes from the garden, various chemicals are sprayed at least three times. Formalin is being sprayed before closing the warehouse at night. As a result, the presence of formalin cannot be noticed in the morning. In addition, if mangoes are mixed with calcium carbide at excess heat, it may turn into calcium cyanide. Which is extremely deadly poison. Carbohydrate-rich fruits are not so difficult to recognize, naturally ripe fruits will not have a uniform color, the stems will be reddish in color and the fruit will be sweet. The artificially rolled fruit will have the same color on all parts and the skin inside the fruit will be a little bitter. Moreover, one part of the fruit is sour and the other part is sweet.

Urea in turn

The poisonous vapor of adulteration has also entered here. That urea is being mixed instead of salt. In order to compete with the fried murdi in the factory, the simple wives of the village are also mixing this poison in the murdi at the persuasion of the storekeepers. In the competitive market, murdi traders and storekeepers are supplying fertilizer to the workers to make murdi long, white, fluffy and attractive. Unbeknownst to them, the mudri workers are making mudri by mixing urea in rice instead of salt. Urea in sacks with fried rice. Muri workers do not even know the evils of urea mixed mudri. About 160 kg of urea is fried in one kg of urea. As the price of salt is high and the traders are also happy, urea is being mixed in the rice and now it is being fried. The buyers of these fertilizers are only the traders, storekeepers and workers. In Baropota, only BR 11 and Brie paddy 28 are being fried. Even two-four years ago, aus paddy husks were fried here at home. Trader Azizul said that the traders and storekeepers are going so they are buying paddy from the workers. Poor workers are being forced to make urea by mixing urea in rice. Hydrogen is also being mixed with urea in the mud. The way to recognize it is that there are numerous holes in the body of this type of cover, it is very white in color. The taste becomes pungent.

Contaminated water in the bottle

Fruits, milk, fish fruitmalin-carbide poisons, other food products could not be kept free from adulteration. Even the most important ‘water’ for survival is not safe. Fake factories are being set up everywhere and bottled water is being supplied to the market as pure mineral water without purification. Plastic jars (large bottles) filled with water reaching homes, offices and courts have also frozen the business of contaminated water. There is a deadly game going on with life-saving water. Bottled water tested in the laboratory of the Department of Soil, Water and Environment of Dhaka University has also been identified as very poor quality water. Although only 19 companies have been approved, the number of companies supplying bottled water jars across the country is more than three hundred. None of this has BSTI approval. The managing director of WASA said that the water from the WASA supply line is being traded in towels without any approval.

Not milk is completely fake

A class of traders is not only getting rid of adulteration, this time they are producing and marketing fake milk. There is no need for any cow to collect this milk and there is no need to build a cattle farm. ‘Poison’ which is easily made by mixing chemicals with baby water. Later it was shipped to the capital as 'pure milk'. Formalin is being added to keep it fresh for a long time. It is known that fake milk can be easily made by heating water and mixing arrowroot in it. However, a few more terms of chemical powder are needed. Which mixes with water to form absolutely white milk. It is impossible to catch it with the naked eye. Its victims are children from adults. Doctors say that drinking artificially made artificial milk carries a risk of stomach ailments. It can also affect organs such as the kidneys or liver. In fake milk factories, baby milk is boiled in a mixture of drinking water, drinking water, thysoda, peroxide, flour, rice starch and sugar, followed by a mixture of cutting oil and essence. False milk consignments were sent from Dhaleshwari Ghat to two Namidami Dairy projects. Later, the plastic wrap of the project reached the market as packaged milk. Dr. ICDDRB Hospital. SK Roy said that due to drinking these fake milk mixed with chemicals, the human body is constantly suffering from diarrhea, complex stomach ailments, kidney and liver diseases. The risk is more serious in children. The only homemade product in the market called Rasgolla has been proven to be adulterated from the beginning. A case has been filed against them in the Pure Food Court.

Resist the chemical terror in food

Food adulteration is no secret today. It has gained legitimacy among the government as well as the citizens. Almost all types of food products are being mixed with various types of toxic substances. But many of us do not know what is formalin, carbide? What are the disadvantages? What kind of diseases can be caused by the effects of chemicals? The most talked about is 'formalin'. It is a chemical that is added to fruits, fish and meat to prevent decay. It is mainly used for disinfection and preservation of animal carcasses. It is also used in cosmetics as it kills bacteria. Eighty-five percent of the fish in the market are being mixed with toxic formalin. According to health experts, the use of formalin can cause various external and internal problems in the human body such as stomach cancer, physical disability and even death. If the level is high, the body may become numb. The kidneys, liver, gills, stomach and liver are the most affected.

But how do I know fish has formalin?

Experts say that the body of the fish becomes hard, as if we think the fish is fresh when we buy. The scales do not become bright but turn gray, the gills are also gray. Seeing all this, if you buy fish, you can get fish with formalin. Formalin use fish usually do not sit on the fly. Almost all summer results are now being sprayed with formalin and carbide or some other chemical. To get rid of this terror, an improved packaging plant can be taken up by the Ministry of Agriculture. So that the fruit can be stored for a few days. Summer fruits can be sterilized and packaged with ultraviolet rays. Above all, it is necessary to discover scientific ways to preserve fruits for a long time. The chemicals that are being mixed in the food are imported from abroad. There is no disagreement to import the necessary work. I want to control the use everywhere. Journalist Naeem Nizam said, "Where people from different parts of the world are constantly trying to purify food, we have risen and fallen to poison food." Which is extremely sad. According to a statistic, in a country where the number of diabetics in the 1980s was only 1 million, now the number of diabetics is about 80-90 million, now about 20-22 percent people have heart disease and 10-12 million people have kidney disease (Bangladesh Daily April) -2015). So the situation is extremely dire. Strict law enforcement is needed to overcome this situation. Governments and law enforcement agencies need to play a leading role in controlling the import, storage, storage, distribution, use and sale of these chemicals, and raising awareness among the people to refrain from buying and eating adulterated food. Newspapers and various media can play an important role in this regard.