Food and

He alt h
Discussion points

• Fast Food and Health Hazard

• Bad affects of adulterated food
• Chemical fertilizer and pesticide
VS agricultural food.
• Bangladesh food perspective
What is Food?

• Food is something everyone

needs. Which can provide us
energy.
Now important for food

• To know how it is produced and

who controls it
Because
The way that it is processed
and marketed can have a big
effect on health and
economics too
Memorable For all or you

In the US, unhealthy eating is

cited as the second biggest
killer after smoking
What about Bangladesh?

Now a days in Bangladesh it is

creating a big problem on our
health also
Fast Food Hazard

• Fast food seems that high levels of

fat and sugar are not only
unhealthy but addictive, which
creates a vicious cycle making it
hard for people to choose healthy
food.
Some typical modern foods
like ----
• Hamburgers laden with growth
hormones,
• Vegetables laced with pesticides,
• Soft drinks full of refined sugar, and
• Foods too numerous to mention
whose color and taste have been
artificially enhanced by
manufactured chemicals.
• Fast food also included excessive fat
and sugar.
Some scientists are
starting to believe that
bingeing on foods that are
excessively high in fat and
sugar can cause changes to our
brain and body that make it
hard to say no.
• Fast food has • addictive-like
properties

• Role • obesity epidemic

• hormonal
• Can also
activities which
change causes brain
changes normally
associated with
addictive drugs
such as heroin.
 Why should we use fresh food?
• Health practitioners
of every stripe agree
that fresh food is the
most nutritious.
Some nutritionists
have even
determined that the
best nutrition of all
comes from foods
that are in season in
one locale.
• The vitamins in almost any food
are gradually lost from the time
of harvest, as they may have
been harvested days or even
weeks before reaching the
kitchen table
Tomatoes are often picked green and
hard so that they can survive
mechanical harvesting and long-
distance transport, and then ripened in
rooms pumped with full of ethylene
gas, which artificially initiates the
ripening process. Tomatoes like these
are much less flavorful and nutritious
than the ripe tomato from a local farm,
plucked from the vine and eaten the
same day.
Buy items made or
grown locally rather
than from far away.
This cuts out '
food miles'. Also, try
my shoppers' quiz to
see how
ecof ri endl y you
are.
Some highly refined products such
as white flour; white sugar and
white rice have had most of their
nutritional content stripped away.

Since processing can also remove

much of the taste and color from
food.

The global food industry often

compensates by adding artificial
flavorings and colorings.
As when real vanilla is replaced
by vanillin, a chemical
substance that approximates
the flavor that comes from
vanilla beans. Chemical
preservatives are also deployed,
to add to the extended shelf life
global foods require.
• Theses chemicals can cause
cancer,
• birth defects,
• immune system breakdown
• neurological damage, and
• can interfere with normal
childhood development
Chemical fertilizers and pesticide used in
agriculture also pose a health problem

Nitrates in water, for example have

been linked to blue- baby syndrome
in infants, birth defects and cancer
of the gastrointestinal tract
Chemi cal fer ti lizers and
pesti cide used in a gr icul ture
al so po se a heal th pr obl em
According to a United Nations study,
from 20, 000 to 40,000 farm workers
die each year from pesticide
exposure. Another study indicates
that as many as 300,000 farm
workers in the United States alone
suffer from pesticide related
illnesses.
 Chemi cal fer ti lizers and
pesti cide used in a gr icul ture
al so po se a heal th pr obl em
• A recent survey by the US Environmental
Protection Agency found that 80% of
adults and 90% of children in the United
States have measurable concentrations
of the pesticide chlorpyrifos in their urine.

• Another resent report says that in Taiwan

recently, 30% of the rice crop was found
to be contaminated with arsenic,
cadmium and mercury
Chemic al preservativ e,
adulteration of fo od a nd it s
haza rd in B angla desh

• According to IPH (Institute of Public

Health) more than fifty percent of
food samples they have tested are
adulterated.
• Food coloring is a form of
adulteration.
• A toxic artificial dye is used to color
fruits and vegetables such as melons
and tomatoes to give them a rich
color.
In Bangladesh we
can see
• The reddish jelapi, and the saffron beguni,
peaju or alur chop. Candy, chips, ice
cream, chewing gum and even biryani
may contain large amounts of poor quality
food colour.
• Textile dyes such as carbide and
ethopene are also being used to color
different iftar items to attract customers.
• Urea fertiliser is used while frying muri to
whiten it.
• Cyanide is used to give mustard oil extra
bite
In Bangladesh we
can see
• Brick dust is mixed with chilly
powder
• a poisonous yellow colorant is
mixed with turmeric powder to
make it more yellow.
• Water and salt are also mixed
with these spices to increase
weight.
• Mangoes, jackfruit, lynches,
watermelon, pineapple, papaya
and bananas are artificially
ripened using a carcinogenic
chemical called ethylene oxide.
In Bangladesh we
can see
• In bananas, another chemical
called Calcium Carbide is
used which happens to be a
sprayed Acetile-gas that
releases heat, says Dr. Golam
Mowlah, (Ph.D., the Professor
and Director General of
Institute of Nutrition and Food
Science, Dhaka University)
 Dalda.
Is it good for health
• "Our stomach's temperature is 37
degrees Celsius and the melting
point of dalda is 54 degree Celsius.
Thus there is no way that dalda can
be absorbed by the body," says
Sarwar (Chief Public Analyst of PHL,
points out).
If you think fish is a healthy
option… BUT!
• Many fish sellers spray fish with
'formalin' -- a chemical usually
used for preservation of tissues.
This chemical is mainly used with
imported fish and it makes the fish
stiff and keeps them looking 'fresh'
for a longer duration.
• "The Pure Food Ordinance 1959
doesn't have fish as a food item.
So, we cannot go for prosecuting
traders involved in mixing formalin
with fish even if we manage to get
hold of them," Sarwar.
Why not to use
burned oil?
• Once the oil is used for
cooking, it becomes oxidized.
The more the oil is used, the
more pre-oxide is created
which is really harmful for the
body. This gets more
poisonous with continued
usage.
How can we be
abl e to pr otect
our food?
Pure Food Act

• We had an old ‘Pure Food

Ordinance’
• Before 19th September 2005 we
had been using that old food
ordinance.
• That is not appropriate for the
present time and situation.
Pure Food Act

On Tuesday, the 23th of September,

the bill ‘Bangladesh Pure Food
(Amendment) 2005 was tabled in the
Jatiya Sangsad. The bill contains
provisions to prohibit the sale or use
of poisonous or dangerous
chemicals, toxic food colour or
flavouring substances which may
cause injury to human body.
Pure Food Act
This Act will replace the existing Pure
Food Act of 1959, which was
outdated and provided for fines of up
to Taka 200 only. Such nominal fines
cannot be regarded as appropriate
punishment for feeding poison to the
people. According to the latest bill, a
person might be imprisoned for a
maximum of three years and fined up
to Taka three lakh.
Pure Food Act
The salient points of the amendments
include:

(iii)Elaborating definition of food;

(ii) Specifying local authorities
empowered to conduct drives to
combat food adulteration and
appoint one or more qualified
persons to be public analyst of food
within its area;
Pure Food Act
(iii) Constituting a National Food
Safety Advisory Council (NFSAC)
headed by the local government,
rural development and co-operatives
minister and consisting of
representatives of the ministries,
departments concerned;
(iv) prohibiting the use and sale of any
poisonous or dangerous chemicals or
ingredients or additives or
substances that may cause injury to
human body;
Pure Food Act
(v) establishing one or more pure
food court in each district and
metropolitan area; and

(vi) enhancing the minimum and

maximum fine or rigorous
imprisonment for the offence for
manufacturing or selling of
adulterated or staled food.
Other than this
• Both the shops selling such foods
and the manufacturers of such foods,
whether local or imported, should be
punished.

• The term adulteration should be

precisely defined in the law, and the
punishment should be according to
the nature of the crime
Dr ive must c ontin ue
In order to execute the laws provided in the
Pure Food Act 2005, when passed, the
increase of efficiency of the professionals
and staff of Dhaka City Corporation,
Bangladesh Standards and Testing
Institution, and law and order agencies
engaged in the drive against adulterated
food, is urgently required. Also required are
adequate and latest food testing equipment
and sufficient budget allocations for
carrying out the drive all the year round.
Dr ive must c ontin ue
The laboratories are ill-equipped both in
terms of equipment and trained manpower
to deal with the gigantic problem of food
adulteration. After the passage of the Pure
Food (Amendment) Act, 2005, the daily
Prothom Alo reported on September 22,
2005 that its field-level survey of the
laboratories of the BSTI, BCSIR, IPH and
the DCC revealed that they did not have
necessary equipment and trained
personnel to detect adulteration.