Health experts have called for ensuring access to safe, vitamin-fortified edible oil for all citizens is critical for protecting public health in Bangladesh.
They said this at a workshop titled Safe Vitamin Fortified Edible Oil for All: Progress, Challenges, and Way Forward held recently in Dhaka.
The event highlighted both the progress made and the roadblocks hindering widespread access to fortified oil.
To deal with the situation, the government has already formulated and implemented the Vitamin A Fortification in Edible Oil Act. However, bulk edible oil marketed in drums is still working as a hindrance to ensuring the proper implementation of the law.
Speakers mentioned that marketing edible oil without Vitamin A fortification is a punishable offence. They said that selling edible oil in packaging or containers made of harmful elements is also legally prohibited.
Mentioning loose oil sold in drums is severely unhealthy and is prone to adulteration, speakers also said that bulk edible oil is distributed using drums that are manufactured with non-food-graded materials and are used for storing chemicals, lubricants or mobil or other products.
Besides, these old drums do not contain any label or required information about their source, which compromises the traceability of the oil supplier and hampers the proper implementation of the law.
Such unhealthy edible oil leaves people vulnerable to developing various noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), they commented.
Moreover, it was informed that the marketing of edible oil in drums should be stopped as per government instructions.
Upon identifying the harmful effects of loose edible oil sold in drums, the Ministry of Industry issued an executive order to phase out bulk soyabean oil sold in drums by July 2022 and bulk palm oil sold in drums by December 2022.
However, this order is yet to be effectively implemented.
The sale of bulk edible oil in drums must be phased out according to the government order.
To ensure that consumers can access safe edible oil (packaged complying with the proper standards), the Food Safety Act, the BSTI Ordinance, the Consumers' Right Protection Act, the Packaged Food Labelling Act, etc should be effectively implemented with coordination between the government organizations.
They suggested that people must be made aware to avoid unhealthy loose edible oil.
