Every year on October 16, “World Food Day” is celebrated. “Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future” is this year’s theme, which means “Come together for good food and a good future.”
The 80th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) founding in 2025 has made this day especially significant. On this day, a number of events were planned to increase awareness of hunger, malnutrition, the sustainable food system, and global food security.In Bangladesh, the day will be commemorated with a number of activities.
(Food is one of the basic needs of people. But not just food intake is enough to be safe and nutritious.Because food has a direct relationship with human health, productivity and quality of life. Therefore, it is not just necessary to take safe food; it is a legal right now. Basically safe food is the basic right of every human being. The existence of human beings is largely dependent on safe food. So safe food and nutrients to build a healthy strong race is a very important thing for us. The UN Declaration of UN Human Rights of the Year is mentioned in Article 25(1) to ensure the right of food for every human being. According to Articles 15(a) and 18(1) of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the basic needs of the food must be met for all citizens of the state. The Safe Food Act has been enacted in the 2013 with the guarantee of safe food for the people of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Safe Food Authority was established on February 2, 2015 to ensure the proper enforcement of this law. The main task of the authority is to ensure the right to get safe food through the activities of food production, import processing, supply, marketing and sales process through proper practice of scientific methods. Authorities have already made several rules, regulations, aims to complete their activities as a whole.
But the question is how safe, quality, healthy, it is not questionable.The abuse of chemicals and pesticides in agriculture, the use of uncontrolled pesticides and fertilizers for the production of more crops is a special threat to safe diet because these chemicals are crop and cause various complex physical problems in the human body in the long run. Also in the food such as fruit milk fish are mixed with various colors, sugar or other adulterated ingredients in the progress of sweet mosquitoes, which is a serious threat to public health. In many cases, foods are not stored at the right temperature and the food is transported in unclean vehicles, which is extremely harmful to health. On the other hand, the lack of awareness of safe food relations between the producers, dealers and consumers is widespread. Many times farmers do not know the proper rules or withdrawal of pesticides. The seller sells risky food in hopes of profit. In the city area, the conservation of food, the weakness of the transportation system, water, pollution and waste management, makes the food insecure. Hygiene is not adhered to during the preservation and sale of food items in the open market. Fish, meat, milk and vegetables are kept in the open in the open, so they are easily infected with germs.
Unfortunately, the administration’s corruption and food adulteration frequently occur because the food legislation and quality control policies are not properly enforced. Furthermore, there isn’t a suitable monitoring program in place to carry out the Safe Food Act. Because there isn’t a mobile court, the religion isn’t harshly punished, etc., criminals keep doing the same thing. Furthermore, Bangladesh lacks a state-of-the-art laboratory to confirm food quality, which makes it frequently challenging to spot contaminated content.
The Safe Food Act, 2013 the Consumer Rights Protection Act, 2009 the Adulteration Act, and the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority have all established that food adulteration occurs. The primary issue, though, is that these laws are not being properly enforced. Because of corruption, criminals are frequently not punished, or even when they are, almost nothing deters adulterers.
It should be mentioned that adulteration carries a life sentence in India and a death sentence in China. If they are tainted or sold under the specific powers of the Act and the drug, the offender faces the death penalty, life in prison, or both in our nation. But why not enforce the law? Mobile courts occasionally fined them for the tainted individuals, but they once more held adulterated festivities with renewed vigor. The accused should be settled in the protection of safe food rights within a month. The maximum penalty is death or life in prison, and their bail should be deemed ineligible and unsuitable for general amnesty.
It is worth mentioning that safe diet is an important global issue, and for this, several laws, agreements and criteria have been created at the international level. The aim of these laws is to ensure the quality of food products to protect the health of consumers and to maintain fairness in international trade. Notable among these are Codex Alimentarius, whose purpose is to determine international food standards, protect consumer and ensure fairness in food trade. ISO 2200 (International Organization for Standardization) determines the quality of the global food security management system. Again, Food Law (EU Regulation 178/2002), which plays a leading role in the European Union’s food security law. Again Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) ensures the highest quality of food security among food producers and vendors. These international laws and agreements are working together to ensure safe food. Each country has to ensure food security and public health protection by following these criteria. In order to ensure the health and safe food of the people of Bangladesh, measures should be taken to implement these international laws and agreements properly.
Bangladesh is adhering to a number of international agreements, treaties, and standards (including the WTO SPS Agreement, Codex Alimentarius, and ISO 22000), particularly those pertaining to food exports, consumer protection, and general public health protection, in order to guarantee a safe diet. The current state of these international laws’ application and implementation in Bangladesh is described:
Bangladesh is a member of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI)-Following the quality of Codex determines the quality and safety of food products. Bangladesh Safe Food Authority (BFSA) – Following the Codex guideline in the field of food security, forming policies and rules. Being a member of Bangladesh WTO, the SPS follows the rules of the contract. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, and BFSA – are jointly working to control food security and health risks. Many export -oriented organizations (especially food processing factories) are receiving 22000: Food Safety Management System Certificate. HacCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) – Used in export products, especially in fish, meat and processed foods. The Government of Bangladesh has introduced export quality control in accordance with EU’s Food Safety Requirements. Processing according to HacCP and SPS is mandatory for export of shrimp and fish to EU & USA. Bangladesh Safe Food Authority (BFSA) established (in 2015). National Food Safety Policy has been created. The mobile court and the Consumer Rights Protection Directorate launched a campaign against food adulteration. BSTI and BSFA work together to regulate the quality of food.
Finally, the administration should boost market surveillance and conduct regular operations to ensure proper and proper execution of the law. Toxins and adulteration in food should be strictly punished, and people should be made aware of food quality so they may make thoughtful dietary choices. To ensure food security, more sophisticated labs and mobile testing units should be used for food testing, and administrative offices should be kept free from corruption.
If the law is correctly implemented, we can guarantee food that is safe, wholesome, and pure. New laws must be passed in order to ensure food security, life security, and national health security. We anticipate that in order to build a beautiful and healthy country in the future, we must guarantee clean, safe, and nourishing food and water.
