Speakers on Sunday said there is no alternative to safe food to ensure nutrition as the root cause of our nutritional problems is unsafe food which also causes more malnutrition among children and pregnant mothers.
The speakers said these things at a seminar organized to mark the National Safe Food Day 2025. The seminar was organized by the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) at the lecture hall of the capital's Super Specialized Hospital on Sunday (Febr. This year, the theme of the day has been set as 'Let the food be safe, let the people be healthy'.
Food secretary Md. Masudul Hasan was present as the chief guest while BFSA Chairman (Additional Secretary) Zakaria
Additional secretary Pradeep Kumar Das, director general of the Food Directorate Abdul Khalek, and additional secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Ahmed Faisal Imam delivered their speeches as the special guests while the keynote address was presented by Professor Dr. Khaleda Islam of the Institute of Food and Nutrition Sciences, Dhaka University (DU).
Masudul Hasan said, "Food, health and wellness - there is no opportunity to look at these three things separately. They complement each other. And to stay healthy, we have to eat safe food. Because today the question of how safe the food is for 700 billion people in the world is being raised today."
He said, "In the current world, our food safety cannot be ensured for various reasons. Even vegetables are being affected by the infection of iconite, and it is difficult to export these abroad. I hope that a direction will come out through the discussion from today's seminar."
In his welcome speech, BFSA Chairman Zakaria said, "Today, we have three tasks going on together. Among them are - the 10th anniversary of the Safe Food Authority, a project of Tk 2,400 crore has been approved by ECNEC for the Safe Food Authority subject to certain conditions. Apart from that, we are going to get land allocated from the Public Works Department to set up a lab in Khulna."
He said, "We have built a Ludo game room to motivate children to eat safe food so that awareness about food safety increases among them."
Dr. Khaleda Islam said, "Food becomes unsafe due to bacteria, chemicals, glass fragments, etc. Apart from that, it becomes unsafe due to water-borne viruses and toxic substances. One in 10 people gets sick due to this food. 420,000 children under the age of five die in the world due to consuming unsafe food. In Bangladesh, 35,000 people die every year due to unsafe food."
Citing the data of the Bangladesh Food and Nutrition Institute in 2021, she said, "There is a lot of adulteration in our food. 66.67 percent in ghee, 43.75 percent in jaggery, 33.33 percent in honey, 28.57 percent in sweets, 27.93 percent in turmeric, 5 percent in pulses/chickpeas, 8.33 percent in rice, 14.63 percent in chilli, 16.67 percent in powdered milk and 17.33 percent in salt are adulterated."
Dr. Khaleda Islam said, "To keep food safe, food must be kept clean, cooked and raw food cannot be kept together, cooking must be covered, food must be kept at the right temperature and safe water must be used for cooking."
Mentioning what kind of food to buy from the market, she said, "When buying fruits and vegetables, you should check whether the color is right or not. You should buy seasonal fruits and vegetables. You should not buy rotten or smelly food. You should check it with your hands. In the case of oil, you should check the amount of fat."
About 200 people, including representatives of the Ministry of Food, academicians, researchers, doctors, food traders, civil society representatives and media personnel, were present at the seminar.