Foods are being prepared in a factory of Foolkoli at Firingi Bazar in the port city in an unhygienic atmosphere. Insets, Mobile court destroys rotten and stale sweets at Battery Lane in the port city recently and Executive Magistrate Juthika Sarkar talks to The Daily Star. PHOTO: ANURUP KANTI DAS

To get pure and safe food has become a dream nowadays as adulterated foods have flooded the markets in the port city of Chittagong during this Ramadan.
Mobile courts of Chittagong District Administration, the Department of National Consumers Right Protection, and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) launched several drives targeting the sellers of unsafe food in the city from the very beginning of Ramadan. The mobile courts fined consumer item outlets and food making factories about Tk 10 lakh. The drives continued till August 16.
The department stores and food processing zones were found applying adulterated ingredients like formalin and colours to food items and selling foodstuffs without using maximum retail price (MRP) tag and expiry date label on packets and selling expired food items. Agora and Meena Bazar were among the shops.
The mobile courts found the environment of the factories and bakeries unhealthy and unhygienic as food items were being prepared in dirty places. The workers were working in the factories without any uniforms.
Deputy Director of Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection, Zubayer Ahmed, said adulteration of foods with poisonous ingredients has become a serious health issue in the port city and in the country as well. He said it is found in hotels, sweet shops, departmental stores, fruit shops, chain stores, and fast food shops.
Zubayer said the mobile court fined Misti Mukh Factory Tk 1 lakh for using adulterated ingredients in sweets at Kazir Dewri and Chawteswari areas. He said the sweets were too stale to eat. But the shopkeepers kept those in showcase for sale.
He said that in the same area, they fined Paramount Hotel Tk 20,000 and Khawja Hotel Tk 10,000 for making Iftar items in an unhygienic environment.
He said it is very hard to believe that the chain shops and fast food shops which have good reputation in business were found using formalin in food items.
Zubayer said he and Chittagong district administration magistrate Juthika Sarker fined Highway Sweets of Lalkhan Bazar intersection twice. But they have not changed, he said, adding that the businessmen will have to change their mentality to stop adulteration.
Prof Dr Gofranul Haque, former principal of Chittagong Medical College, said adulteration of food is responsible for cancer, kidney failure, damage of stomach, and lever and skin problems. It also can create infection in throat and blood, he added.
Prof Gofranul said it may affect pregnant women and hamper the natural growth of babies in wombs.
Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate of Chittagong District Administration, Juthika Sarker, told The Daily Star that adulteration spread from the footpath and street corner shops to aristocratic chain stores.
She said different mobile courts of Chittagong district administration fined a number of persons Tk 8.69 lakh and filed 21 cases against them and fined several institutions Tk.7.47 lakh and filed 11 cases against those institutions for food adulteration.
Juthika said that during the drives, they found shop, bakeries, and departmental stores owners are not interested in keeping their factories neat and clean. They do not follow the standards in making or storing the foods in a hygienic environment, she said, adding that they even do not provide any uniforms to the workers.
Juthika said all the traders know about the affects of using formalin in foods, yet they use them. There is adequate number of laws against food adulteration, but without support of the traders, it is not possible to get rid of the situation, she said.