Man cannot live without food. It is essential for health and life. But this food must be pure, clean and fresh. Nowadays foods are often adulterated. Food adulteration means making food or drink less pure by adding or mixing another substance with it. Generally, the act of adulteration is intentional. The major reason for food adulteration is the greed of some dishonest businessmen. They want to increase the profit margin at the expense of the health of the consumer. When profit in business is more important than morality, then it is possible to add the poisoning contents to the foods and beverages. They use chemical substances to reduce manufacturing cost, preserve food items for a long time, or for some deceptive or malicious purposes. Food contamination and consumers exposure to food hazards have a major implication on food security and consumers health in Bangladesh. Low level of awareness and weakness in existing Food laws and regulation are also contributing to aggravating the country’s food safety situation. Food adulteration creates a lot of health problems for people. Use of formalin creates various liver damaging diseases like liver cirrhosis. Urea and other nitrogenous products cause different types of kidney diseases, especially in children. Oleomargarine used in butter contains low-density lipoprotein that causes atherosclerosis and heart disease. Dead chicken in hotels and restaurants may contain germs of various diseases and may produce infection. Artificial colorants contain a lot of toxic like copper, zinc, indigo which are carcinogenic and may produce cancer. The criminals have to be identified and punished. Protecting public health from such hazards, therefore, requires a comprehensive risk analysis and risk management approach of food safety from production to consumption. The relevant departments of the government should remain ever vigilant against food adulteration and gear up their activities It is encouraging that our government has taken appropriate measures to remove this problem punish the criminals and save the people from this dreadful scourge.
Food Adulteration
