How Bangladesh Is Tackling the Next Big Challenge in Food Policy

On March 21, 2022, the Feed the Future Bangladesh Policy LINK Agricultural Policy Activity  brought together regional stakeholders in the southeastern coastal town of Cox’s Bazar to discuss gaps in the country’s food safety policy. Part of the USAID activity’s drive toward more inclusive policy processes, the day-long workshop included panelists from the District Livestock Office, the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), and the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) as well as the Cox's Bazar branch of the Department of Agricultural Extensions (DAE).  

Along with food security, food safety has ranked high on the government’s agenda as it’s worked to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).  

According to the World Health Organization, close to 600 million people around the world fall ill from consuming adulterated food every year. Of them, 33 million faced deteriorating health conditions, and around 420,000 died as a result. In Bangladesh, high population density and underdeveloped infrastructure have led to a high incidence of foodborne diseases and other food safety risks.  

According to the latest data published by the Dhaka-based Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), acute watery diarrhea is the most common foodborne disease in the country, with about 0.28 million cases in 2015. Two other foodborne illnesses tracked by IEDCR, enteric fever and acute hepatitis, yielded approximately 30,000 and 500 cases, respectively, during the same time period. These illnesses have had an especially negative effect on the physiological growth of children.   

Government Commitment  

Despite these grave statistics, workshop participants, who hailed from the public and private sectors as well as civil society, agreed that Bangladesh had made progress toward improving conditions in the country. Along with food security, food safety has ranked high on the government’s agenda as it’s worked to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).  

The district-based Food Safety Officer emphasized that agencies like the BFSA are committed to improving food safety in line with the Government of Bangladesh’s commitments to the SDGs. Meeting these goals, said the District Livestock Officer, will take a multi-sectoral approach – one that addresses every step of the safe food production and consumption process.  

Implementation Challenges  

According to the World Health Organization, close to 600 million people around the world fall ill from consuming adulterated food every year.

The Deputy Director of the BSTI’s Cox’s Bazar division added that one of the authority’s core priorities is to support the monitoring of pesticide and hormone abuse in food production. He also explained that the quality testing process is overwhelmingly lengthy due to a lack of necessary labs at the district and sub-district levels. This, in turn, results in the entire cycle becoming highly centralized and inefficient.  

Several private business owners, including dry fish producers, shared their opinions around the safety standards they adhere to during the production process and the inconsistent inspection measures taken by government authorities. Representatives from the development sector, including non-profits and civil society organizations, drew the participants’ attention to the need for improved awareness and proper training of workers involved in food production and processing.  

Next Steps 

Participants urged stronger coordination among the various actors involved in ensuring food safety. Among the recommendations to emerge from the workshop was to further develop inclusive mechanisms for these stakeholders to participate in the policy planning process.  

By offering open spaces for a range of stakeholders to freely express the challenges they face, including with food safety, Policy LINK is partnering with USAID/Bangladesh to foster more inclusive policy systems. Key recommendations from the March 21 session will inform a series of policy documents being developed by the USAID activity.  

Resources

Read more about Policy LINK’s work in Bangladesh here.