Oil is an essential ingredient in every kitchen, the use of oil is seen slightly more in Indian dishes than the other dishes in the world. From the breakfast table to dinner, the oil will available in every food items. Soybean, mustard, palm oil, sesame oil, olive oil etc. are the most common cooking oil in Bangladesh, but bangali loves to use ghee in cooking also.
Food contamination has taken the purity of the oil. Adulteration has become a fashion in our country, to maintain that consistency oil and ghee are getting contaminated. The report of National Food Safety Laboratory for Institute of Public Health states 50 percent of oil and ghee now available in the market is tampered. It is quite impossible to understand by the look of those transparent, clean & well-packaged oil that there could exist deadly chemicals. There is a complain that the glycemic olive acid, low-quality palm and stearin oil which are usually used in petroleum, soap and silk industries, are mixing with soybean and mustard oil to increase the quantity now. Along with it, caustic soda, erucic acid, isothiocyanate are being used in oil making process. You will get the same condition in oil including the local and branded oil. Used and obsolete oil are sending back in the market by coloring and refining with harmful chemicals. Research says 87 percent of soybean oil is adulterated; even mustard oil is not free from contamination. Any kind of regular oil can be converted into mustard oil; chili powder, textile color, artificial smell, pepper juice, erucic acid, and alail isothiocyanate are mixed up to bring the taste and smell of real mustard oil. About 84 percent of mustard oil is contaminated. But among the contamination, mixing machine oil with cooking oil is the most terrible thing. Many restaurant and hotel owners use that oil in cooking due to the low price without considering the toxic side.
Another ingredient that can use as an alternative to oil is ghee. Let’s talk about the contamination of ghee now. In order to provide some extra nutrition of the expecting mother or growing child of your family if you think ghee will be a perfect choice then you are wrong. A report published from Public Health Institute and BSTI told dalda, potato, suji, coconut oil, palm oil are now used in making ghee. Textile color, artificial smell, and chemicals are also added to cover the fraud.
When one oil is mixed up with other oil, a reaction could be created by the different kind of ingredients and made it harmful. If we mix coconut oil in mustard oil or palm oil with soybean oil it will turn into a dangerous thing and increase the health risk. According to the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute, Public Health Institute, Dhaka City Corporation, a cycle of dishonest people are importing mineral oil, animal fat and palm oil at a low price and mixing them with cooking oil in a thoughtless way. There exists a high level of acidity in most the adulterated oils. Food Safety Laboratory has examined 13 branded soybean oil and found acidity in 5, 14 jar of mustard oil has been marked as contaminated among 19. Using those types of oil may increase the cholesterol level in the blood and affect the blood pressure. The LDL in this oil produces various types of heart disorders including the heart block and heart attract. It reduces the working ability, causes lung disease and ends up with death. Along with regular diseases like gastric, digestion problem, stomach trouble, this oil can damage the important body parts like kidney, liver, lung etc permanently.
This contaminated oil affects the pregnant women most. The development of unborn baby may be interrupted; even the child may die in the mother womb. It is responsible for stomach disease, liver or kidney disease of children. You can blame it for the irrational behavior of the child too.
To keep yourself and the family safe, take a stern position against the food contamination. Call the law if you notice any kind of contamination around you, pick up the foods from a safe source.
