It is alarming to note that 1 out of every 10 people faced severe sickness from eating adulterated food globally. Conclusively, such food on average kills about 4.2 lakh people a year, according to the WHO.
It is time to ensure food safety at all stages of the food chain from production to consumption. The government is working to create good habits for safe food production, processing, storage, marketing and consumption. Public awareness can make this effort more fruitful and successful. Media has to play a role in ensuring safe food for the people of the country.
Read more: Food adulteration continues unabated
Food adulteration does not only disregard
our constitutional right to safe food but
also imperils public health
Experts opine that farmers were unknowingly poisoning their food by using excessive pesticides. The fertility of the soil is also being destroyed due to the overuse of fertilizers. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and Livestock have to take joint action to raise awareness at the production level.
While the quality of seeds is in high demand, determining the good quality remains to be a pivotal problem that is raised by farmers. The government should make sure that adulterated seeds in both import and export forms are diminished from the market. One of the reasons behind this persistent offence is clearly the absence of any system for penal actions that government should have put in place a long time ago.
Food adulteration does not only disregard our constitutional right to safe food but also imperils public health. If government does not take effective preventive measures now then our future generations will be seriously affected with susceptible physical and mental growth.
