The growing problem of food adulteration continues to be a health concern. However, people are more aware now than before and instead of waiting for others to take initiatives to fix the situation, they are taking matters into their own hands and doing whatever possible to minimise the consequences of food adulteration in the society and on themselves.
How will you react if you found out that about half the vegetable items in the markets are adulterated with pesticides? Unfortunately, that is exactly what we've come to. According to a survey conducted by the National Food Safety Laboratory, with support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), most of the vegetable items sold in the market are adulterated with pesticides.
Over time, the list of adulterated food items grew longer as several other daily grocery items were found to be adulterated as well. Even fish, chicken, fruits and spices have not been exempted from this list. Civilians are purchasing and consuming fatal chemicals such as formalin and lead chromium along with their groceries.
A lot of mobile courts have appeared over time but the entire process of getting things under control is still just a work in progress. It's high time people were made aware of it and something was being done to prevent it. But the fact that a handful number of people and organisations, out of the millions living in the city, started to combat the problem of food contamination, is probably the only silver lining.
Jahan Dairy is one such organisation. To provide nutritious food for families, they began farming their own products. The rising demand for healthy food initiated this endeavour. Jahid Alam, one of the initiators said, “There is an endless demand for unadulterated food with zero supply. We wanted to grow vegetables and other food items for personal consumption but it was too expensive. That's when we decided to start farming these items not for just ourselves, but for others looking to buy unadulterated food items as well. We wanted to serve people and also create a sustainable process.” Alam also informed that everything which include milk and milk products such as ghee, curd, deshi chicken eggs and fish are produced in their own farm in Mawla, Gazipur. Vegetables and fruits are sold depending on their seasonal availability. Everything has been farmed through a very natural process. Alam said, “In our chicken farm, we strictly avoid processed food, and we feed them local rice grains. The same process has been applied to every other section.” Right now, Jahan Dairy takes orders from across the city only on Tuesdays and Saturdays via their hotline number (+8801710990999).
Another similar initiative was taken by Shobuj Uddegh, a company that specialises in the same arena. They are providing unadulterated red/white flour, deshi sugar, a variety of rice, spices, shudh ghee, achaar, honey, puffed rice, seasonal fruits, etc. Apart from having their own farm, they also outsource from local farmers but only after they've ensured the quality of the produce. Shobuj Uddegh has a store in Mohammadpur along with which they also take orders through their hotline number (+8801791002007). “A few more stores will be opened very soon,” Riazul, a sales executive of the store happily added.
A lot of people seek pure honey. For them there is Siqat Food Shop, an excellent store owned by Sadat. They offer Kalijira Modhu, collected directly from farmers and Sundarban Modhu collected from the local Mawali. They can be reached at their designated hotline as well (+8801875221866). All three aforementioned companies provide home delivery.
Effects of eating adulterated food:
Turmeric powder has lead chromate which can be deadly if swallowed or inhaled.
Some of the other banned pesticides such as DDT, aldrin, chlordane and heptachlor are used in milk, milk products, fish, fruits and vegetables. Almost everything edible is septic.
Food with formalin can lead to chronic poisoning, and can also lead to damaged kidneys. It can also cause cancer.
The presence of antibiotics in poultry only contributes to antibiotic-resistance in bacteria, making infections harder to treat.
The microbial food related illnesses are diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, sore throat with fever and jaundice.
Arsenic and chromium above safety limits were detected in a total of five out of 13 rice samples. Arsenic has cancer-causing properties. Continuous low level exposure is the reason behind skin, vascular and nervous system disorders.
