জাতীয় নিরাপদ খাদ্য দিবস মেলা ২০১৯

জাতীয় নিরাপদ খাদ্য দিবস মেলা ২০১৯

National Safe Food Day Fair 2019

Md. Zahirul Haque
Mushroom Development Officer
Horticulture Wing, DAE, Khamarbari, Dhaka-1215


Hon’bles Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has pledged to put more effort into stopping food adulteration – calling it another form of corruption. The government is paying special attention to producing nutritious food in the country, she also said. "Mixing adulterants with food is also a kind of corruption," she said at a ceremony held at the Krishibid Institute to observe National Food Security Day on Sunday. "Nobody has the right to destroy people's health. We will take stronger steps to stop this activity." The prime minister also said her government is paying close attention to producing nutritious food, and a specialized laboratory will be set up to check food adulteration. In addition to a central laboratory, the food adulteration lab will have branches in every division of the country, she added. She further said: "We are emphasizing the production of local fishes. Bangladesh is now self-sufficient in producing fishes, eggs, milk, meat and other protein foods.” "Demand for food is constant, and the government is working to fulfill the demand," Sheikh Hasina said. "We are also ensuring that the produced food is stocked in the proper manner. Currently, there is a capacity for stocking 2.1 million metric tons of food; we plan to expand that to 2.7 million metric tons," she said, referring to the development of modern silos in the country. Mentioning that the government had formed the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority with the aim of conducting extensive anti-adulteration drives, the prime minister said work was being done to address a shortage of manpower at the authority. Sheikh Hasina further said the National Food Policy Action Plan and the First State Level Investment Plan on Agriculture, Food Safety and Nutrition have been formulated to ensure safe food for all. Furthermore, the Second State-level Investment Plan (2016-2020) has been formulated in line with the 7th Five Year Plan while taking nutrition-sensitive food systems into consideration, she added. The prime minister also reiterated the government's goal to ensure access to food for women and children from extremely poor sections of society, to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending world hunger by 2030.

Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, and Bangladesh Food Safety Authority Chairman Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque also spoke at the program, chaired by Food Secretary Sahabuddin Ahmed.