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Kathmandu Monday May 07, 2001 Baishakh 24, 2058.
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Food
adulteration
Adulterated foodstuff and beveages are a problem that
straddles the third world, although its dimentions may vary from country to country. In
our own country the situation is pretty scary, to judge by the contents of a report to be
put out soon by the Central Food Laboratory. The report speaks of a substantial rise in
the adulteration of mustard and rapeseed oil with argemone mexicana, which can cause
dropsy. Lab tests carried out under the Ministry of Agriculture show that 66 percent of
oil samples were contaminated, way up from 28.9 percent just last year. Apart from
adulterated mustard oil, adulteration levels in general food items like pasteurised milk,
vegetable ghee, black pulses and chocolates are also high enough to pose a threat to
public health. Out of nine pasteurised milk samples tested, seven were found to be
contaminated with the micro-organism ‘coliform’ which causes dysentery, and 44
percent of black pulse samples had coal tar and other inedibles mixed in, a big jump from
l2.5l percent last year. Also contaminated was 40 percent of the ghee in the market and 27
percent of vegetable ghee, although these levels are an improvement over the past. The
report found that about 20 percent of all food samples in the market are contaminated. The
size of the problem is therefore fairly clear. One rather suspects that much of the
adulteration is deliberate while some of it is due to poor equipment and faulty
processing.
What is equally clear is that a big part of the problem is
lack of adequate monitoring and follow up by the authorities concerned. We do have some
food laboratories to monitor quality levels and keep the authorities posted. But where are
the follow up measures? Everyone remembers the public scare created a few years ago by the
adulteration of edible oil with argemone mexicana. But the problem was soon forgotten
after some quick fix responses. It was forgotten both by the public, and even more
regretably by the government. Things could soon be back to square one if the adulteration
levels now found in mustard and rapeseed oil are simply shrugged off. Meanwhile, even the
officials concerned concede that enforcement mechanisms for quality control are weak .
Although the Food Act is in force in all 75 districts, the number of food inspectors at
the six food testing laboratories in the country is a woefully inadequate l6. These are
backed up by just 30 food analysts. Authoritative estimates are that at least 70 food
inspectors are needed to bring adulteration levels down to l0 or l2 percent. Considering
the size of the problem and what is at stake, improving the infrastructure for monitoring
and follow up including augmention of the personnel required is the least that the
government could do. Although people may not necessarily be what they eat, the quality of
their food intake is the biggest single factor determining the general quality of their
health. If need be, the government should step in with budgetary help to uphold these
quality levels. Far from being money wasted, it will actually be more than made up for by
the savings in public health expenditure.
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