Food Adulteration
Complainant to get 25pc of fine
Twenty-five percent of the money to be realised through penalties against food adulterators will go to the plaintiffs if a new food safety bill is passed by parliament.
According to the Safe Food Act, 2013, placed in the House yesterday, complainants against food adulteration will be rewarded with one-fourth the amount of fine to be imposed on adulterators.
However, officials related to the tasks of food law enforcement will not be entitled to the reward.
Earlier on September 9, the cabinet had approved the proposed food law with a provision of a maximum of five years’ imprisonment or a fine of Tk 10 lakh or both for persons guilty of food adulteration. The amount of the fine doubles if anyone repeats the offence.
Once passed into a law, the new act will replace the Pure Food Ordinance, 1959.
The Safe Food Act also has a provision for setting up of a unified authority, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA), to fight food adulteration and attend to other food-related concerns of consumers. It proposed forming as many food courts as deemed necessary to prosecute adulterators.
The law proposed controlling the use of various toxic chemicals, such as formalin and DDT, in food items to ensure quality of food from production to packaging and distribution.
The law will replace the existing system of food quality control that involves as many as 15 ministries and their agencies, said sources in the food ministry.
The draft proposed the formation of a National Pure Food Management Advisory Council, headed by the food minister and comprised of members from different ministries and government, private and academic organisations.
-With The Daily Star input
