Deaths caused by unplanned, unhealthy eating habits rising: Experts

Many people in the country are dying from diseases including heart attack and cancer caused by unplanned and unhealthy eating habits while a lot of food is being wasted due to mismanagement, said experts.

Enforcing laws as well as raising public awareness is needed to get rid of these problems, but the government alone cannot do these without the people's participation, said experts in a roundtable discussion on Health and Food Waste Management to achieve Sustainable Development Goals 3 (SDG-3) on Saturday.

The Gen Lab and H&H Foundation jointly organised the roundtable discussion at the National Press Club.

At the programme, Barrister Shameem Haider Patwari, member of parliament from Gaibandha-1 constituency, said, "The amount of cadmium and lead in the air of Dhaka city is enough to declare a state of emergency at any time."

"In the past, communicable diseases were given much importance, but at present, 60% of the deaths in the Indian subcontinent are caused by non-communicable diseases including heart attack and cancer."

Noting that the general public has to bear 70% of the cost of healthcare, he said, "Medicines worth Tk2,500 crore were sold in Bangladesh last year for treating gastric diseases. We also need to be more aware of trans-fat."

"Every year around 5-6 lakh people in the country suffer from blindness caused by diabetes. These people did not know about the disease, but it is possible to diagnose this disease by spending Tk50 per person," he added.

Regarding food management, former election commissioner and retired brigadier general M Sakhawat Hossain said Ratan Tata, an Indian industrialist, was fined 70 euros for ruining a restaurant in Germany. They said no one has the right to waste food, because many people are suffering from the scarcity of it.

"A lot of food is being wasted in Bangladesh every year, while it is least wasted in India, but we often make fun of their habit of buying food. In our country, there is no authority for managing waste except individual management. Implied properly, such a management system will withstand a huge amount of food," he said.

Bangladesh Food Safety Authority member Md Rejaul Karim said, "We have already formulated the 'Trans-Fat Policy'. We hope to be able to start working with oil producers and users from 2023."

He also said the authority is drafting a very strict advertising regulation and expressed his hope to implement it by June this year.

"There are no rules and regulations for food business in our country. We want to bring all the food businesses under regulation. We cannot ensure food safety just by fining restaurants," he added.

Gen Lab Executive Director Ratul Dev moderated the discussion programme where public health expert Dr Anupam Hossain, Head of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation's Food and Beverage Productions Jahida Begum, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries member Salauddin Yusuf, among others, delivered speeches.