Food Safety:

● Food is a scientific discipline describing

handle, preparation, and storage of
food ​in ways that prevent food-borne
illness.
● The occurrence of illnesses resulting
from the ingestion of a common food is
known as a food-borne disease
outbreak.
● This includes a number of routines that
should be followed to avoid potential health hazards.
Food security/safety is a larger
canvas-Explain.
Food security exists when all people, at all times,
have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food
to maintain healthy and productive lives.
The key elements of food security are:
(a) ​availability of enough food​ from domestic
production and/or imports to meet the demand,
(b) ​access of the food to all people​ at all times
through enough incomes and affordable prices,
(c) ​proper hygiene and sanitary practices​ and safe
water for utilisation of food to have optimum
impact on health and nutrition, and
(d) a ​regulatory framework​ in place and its proper
implementation for controlling contamination to
ensure food safety.
What is food laws?
● Food law is the collection of laws and regulations that
govern food ​production​, ​distribution​ and ​consumption​.
● Food laws aim to protect consumers and provide for the
efficient growth and use of food. ...
● In addition, they work on behalf of government agencies
making or enforcing food laws and policies.

Purpose of food laws:

● Protect the public health
● Convey information to consumers
● Protect against fraud
● Assure fair trade practices
● Protect the environment
● Protect consumers from malicious or intentional attacks
on the food system
Bangladesh has the highest number of food safety laws in world

1. Penal Code, 1860

2. Control of Essential Commodities Act, 1956
3. Food (Special Courts) Act, 1956

4. The Animal Slaughter (Restriction) and Meat Control Act 1957​: This
Act provides for the restrictions applied to the slaughter of animals and
the consumption of meat as per Sections 2 to 5.

5. The Bangladesh Pure Food Ordinance, 1959: This is an ordinance to

provide better control of the manufacture and sale of food for human
consumption. Now, this Ordinance is under revision as 'The Bangladesh
Pure Food (Amendment) Act'. Under this Act, it has been proposed to
constitute a National Food Safety Council, headed by the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare as well as to establish Food Courts.

6. Cantonments Pure Food Act, 1966​: ​The purpose of this Act is to

prevent the adulteration of food in all cantonments in Bangladesh and to
regulate the sale and manufacture of food.
7. Pesticide Ordinance, 1971
8. Special Powers Act, 1974
9. Fish and Fish Products (Inspection and Control), Ordinance, 1983
10. The Breast-Milk Substitutes​ (Regulation of Marketing) Ordinance,
1984
11. Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution Ordinance 1985
(‘BSTIO 1985’)

● This ordinance relates to establishment of an institution for

standardization, testing, metrology, quality control, grading and marking
of goods.
● Within the framework of this ordinance, the government has established
the ​Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI)​.
● One important task of this organization is ​to certify ​the quality of
commodities, materials, whether for local consumption or for export and
import.
● The Ordinance has been amended as The Bangladesh Standards and
Testing Institution (Amendment) Act, 2003.

12. The Radiation Protection Act, 1987​: Under this Act, the Institute of
Food and Radiation Biology (IFRB) of Bangladesh Atomic Energy
Commission is primarily involved in food irradiation research and
development in the country

13. Iodine Deficiency Disorders Prevention Act 1989​ (‘IDDPA 1989’):

The Government has enacted "The Iodine Deficiency Disorders
Prevention Act, 1989 for universal salt iodisation and banned
non-iodised salt from market, aimed at virtual elimination of IDD from
the country.

14. Vokta Odhikar Songrokkhon Ain, 2009​ [Consumers Rights

Protection Act 2009]

15. Mobile Court Ain, 2009

16. The Food Safety Act 2013 ​has been enacted in Bangladesh
through repealing and re-enacting the existing outdated laws in this
regards. This 2013 Act has been enacted to form an authority that
would ensure generous efforts to the food control agencies, food
business operators and people of the country towards achieving the
landmark goal of founding a Modern and Technological Food Safety
System in Bangladesh as required for the government’s vision 2021.
Accordingly under the 2013 Act, the Bangladesh Food Safety
Authority (BFSA) has been formed in 2015.
Food control in Bangladesh is a multi-sectoral
responsibility-why??

1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW)

● Responsible for the enforcement of food control legislation to
ensure safe food.
● responsible for monitoring of food quality and safety situation
including collection of food samples.
● Inspection of food manufacturing/processing and selling premises
as well as to collect food samples.
2. Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and
Co-operatives (MOLGRD):
● Responsible for the food safety and quality of food in City
corporations and Municipalities

3. Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs:

● Responsible for revision of existing rules/ordinance or to formulate new
food laws.

4. Ministry of Food and Disaster Management:

● Directorate General of Food having Food Inspectors at the
Upazila and District level and usually deal with the Food security
aspects.
● Besides, they are also responsible for quality of imported and
locally procured food grains and other food items including sugar,
edible oil etc. as well as responsible for the quality of the storage
food grains etc.

5. Ministry of Industry:
● Ministry of Industry is responsible for the Standardization,
Certification Marks and Monitoring quality control of food items
through its BSTI.
● BSTI is responsible for implementing food regulations in
Bangladesh.
 6. Ministry of Agriculture:
● Ministry of Agriculture is also involved in maintaining safety and
quality of food through good agricultural practices like optimum
use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, preservation and supply of
seeds.
● Approval of pesticides is a responsibility of this Ministry.

7. Ministry of Environment and Forest:

Ministry of Environment and Forest is also involved in food safety. Presently,
the Department of Environment of the ministry along with the
Department of Agricultural Extension and Bangladesh Power
Development Board is implementing a project on ​Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPS) ​under Stockholm Convention aimed to protect
human health and environment.

8. Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock​:

● The Department of Fisheries is responsible for prevention and
control of diseases in fishes & aquatic animals and safety and
quality of fish and aquaculture products.
● The seafood quality and safety programmed is based on GMP
and sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP) and
HACCP principles.
● The Directorate of Livestock is responsible for animal health and
quality and safety of product of animal origin.

In addition, the Ministries like Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Science

and Technology, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ministry of
Commerce, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defence are also
responsible for food safety and quality control.
Qualitative And Quantitative Assessment Of Food Items

The following Laboratories are responsible for qualitative and quantitative

assessment of food items
1. Public Health Laboratory of the Institute of Public Health, Dhaka under the
MOHFW.
Some 5000 food samples are tested here annually, sent by the Sanitary
Inspectors from different Upazilas and Municipalities. Results are indicated
that there are as many as 50% of the samples are found unsatisfactory. But
this does not reflect the real picture of the food quality of the country.
Because, most of these samples are biased i.e.suspected as unsatisfactory
food items by the Sanitary Inspectors, not collected randomly.
2. Laboratory of the Institute of Public Health Nutrition under the
MOHFW-dealing with the monitoring of the quality of Iodized salt and others.
3. ​Bangladesh Standard Testing Institution (BSTI) under the Ministry of
Industries.
In 2008-10, BSTI performed more than 500 mobile courts, samples collected
from open market,issued show cause notice issued to manufacturers, some
licenses were cancelled and legal actions were taken.
4. ​Food Testing Laboratory​, Directorate of Food under the Ministry of Food
and Disaster Management.
In 2002-03, this laboratory tested 242 rice samples, 291 wheat and 6 oil
which were respectively 3, 20 and 49 in 2000-01.
5. Institute of Food Science Technology, Dhaka; Bangladesh Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) as well as its Branches at
Chittagong and Dhaka under Ministry of Science and Information &
Communication Technology.
6. Food Testing Laboratory of Dhaka City Corporation under the MOLGRD.
In 2003,a total 960 samples were tested in the Public Health Laboratory of the
Dhaka City Corporation which was 430 in the year 2000.
7. Laboratory of Plant Protection Wing of DAE of Ministry of Agriculture:
This lab also tests both imported and exported vegetables and fruits. During
the year 2002-03, 7007.6metric tons vegetables and 2262.6 metric tons fruits
were exported and of them 1500 samples were collected and tested. It was
5554 metric tons, 1885 metric tons and 1000 samples respectively in
2000-01. It was found that 100% samples were satisfactory in both years.
8. Quality Control Laboratories for frozen fish at Khulna and Chittagong under
the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
9. Laboratory of Department of Livestock under the Ministry of Fisheries and
Livestock.
10. Institute of Food Radiation Biology, Atomic Energy Commission under the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
11. Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Dhaka under the
Ministry of Education.
12. Central laboratory and Lab of Post Harvest Technology of Bangladesh
Agricultural Research Institute and Lab. of Bangladesh Rice Research
Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture.
13. Armed Forces Food and Drug Testing Laboratory, Dhaka Cantonment,
Dhaka under the Ministry of Defense.
14. Laboratories of Department of Food Technology & Rural Industry,
Department of Dairy Science and Department of Biochemistry of Bangladesh
Agricultural University.
15. Chemical Examination Laboratory of CID under the Ministry of Home
Affairs.
16. Environment Laboratory, Directorate of Environment under the Ministry
Environment
Pesticides​ are substances that are used to control pests,
including weeds.
The term pesticide includes all of the following:
✔herbicide​, ​insecticides​, nematicide,
✔molluscicide​,
✔piscicide,
✔avicide,
✔rodenticide​,
✔bactericide​,
✔insect repellent​, ​animal repellent​,
✔Antimicrobial​, ​fungicide​ and ​disinfectant​ ​(antimicrobial).

The most common of these are herbicides which account for

approximately 80% of all pesticide use.​
 Health Hazards of pesticides
Acute toxicity
Pesticides can be acutely toxic. This means that they can
cause harmful or lethal effects after ​one single​ episode of
ingestion, inhalation or skin contact. The symptoms are
evident shortly after exposure or can arise within 48 hours.
They can present as:

● respiratory tract irritation, sore throat and/or cough

● allergic sensitization
● eye and skin irritation
● nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
● headache, loss of consciousness
● extreme weakness, seizures and/or death
Long term (or chronic) toxicity
Pesticides can cause harmful effects over an extended
period, usually following repeated or continuous exposure at
low levels. Low doses don’t always cause immediate effects,
but over time, they can cause very serious illnesses.

Long term pesticide exposure has been linked to the

development of ​Parkinson’s disease​; ​asthma​; depression
and anxiety; cancer, including leukaemia and non-Hodgkin
lymphoma; and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD).
 ​Antibiotic growth promoters (AGP)

The term "antibiotic growth promoter" is used to describe

any medicine that destroys or inhibits bacteria and is
administered at a low, subtherapeutic dose. The use of
antibiotics for growth promotion has arisen with the
intensification of livestock farming.

Risk: Emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria

that could potentially spread to humans.

Reasons for restricting antibiotic use

The FDA has approved responsible use of antibiotics for

treatment of sick animals. However, the ​US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FDA do not
support the use of antibiotics for growth promotion because
of evidence that suggests AGP lead to the development of
resistant bacteria.
The practice of using AGPs is problematic for these
reasons.
● It is the largest use of antimicrobials worldwide
● Subtherapeutic use of antibiotics results in bacterial
resistance
● Every important class of antibiotics are being used in
this way, making every class less effective
● The bacteria being changed harm humans
List of AGPs commonly used in livestock:
Hormonal growth promoters?
● Hormonal growth promoters (HGPs) are ​naturally
occurring or ​synthetic products. They are approved for
use in beef cattle. The effect of HGPs is to ​increase
lean tissue growth​. Fat deposition is reduced and
since fat is so energy dense, food conversion efficiency
is increased. The result is a healthier product which is
produced at a lower cost to the consumer.
● Natural  hormones  such  as  estradiol  (estrogen), 
progestrone  and  testosterone  or  synthetic  hormones 
such  as  ​zeranol,  melengestrol  acetate  and  ​trenbolone 
acetate  are  widely  used  as  growth  promoters  in 
animals. 
 
 
 
 
● These drugs increase the animals’ growth rate.
● typically formulated as ​pellets or “implants​” that are
placed under the skin on the back side of the animal’s
ear. The implants dissolve slowly under the skin and do
not require removal.
US FDA approved seven hormone drugs for use in food
animal.
● testosterone propionate,
● trenbolone acetate,
● estradiol,
● zeranol,
● progesterone,
● melengestrol acetate, and
● bovine somatotropin