Nutritious edible oil a must for public health: PROGGA

Apart from posing a threat to public health, the sale of unpacked edible oil in unhealthy drums is a barrier to proper implementation of the Vitamin Fortification in Edible Oil Act, 2013, says PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress). 

It emphasised the important role of vitamin-fortified edible oil in combating nutritional deficiency and improving public health. 

"To address micronutrient deficiency in the country, the government has already enacted the Vitamin A fortification in Edible Oil Act. In order to ensure the nutritional quality of edible oil, the sale of loose edible oil in unhealthy drums should be stopped," a statement quoted ABM Zubair, PROGGA's executive director, as saying on the eve of World Nutrition Day 2024 to be observed today. 

Citing a 2017 study by the ICDDR, B, it said 65% of the total edible oil sold in Bangladesh is marketed in drums, of which 59% is not vitamin-A fortified, while 34% is poorly fortified. 

To put an end to this, the ministry of industries issued an executive order to phase out unpacked soybean oil sales by July 2022 and unpacked palm oil by December 2022. 

But that order has not yet been fully implemented. Moreover, the un-bottled edible oil has the potential for being adulterated apart from having the chance of being contaminated in non-food graded plastic drums, the PROGGA said. 

According to the National Micronutrient Survey 2019-20, 50.9% of children aged 6-59 months, and 7.5% of non-lactating or non-pregnant women suffer from Vitamin A deficiency in the country.

Vitamin A deficiency causes physiological issues like blindness, and maternal death during pregnancy, PROGGA said.