Call to ensure availability of vitamin-fortified edible oil

Speakers at a workshop in Dhaka on Wednesday have made a call to ensure availability of vitamin-fortified edible oil.

They made the call at a workshop for journalists titled 'Safe Vitamin Fortified Edible Oil for All: Progress, Challenges and Way Forward,' jointly organized by PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress), a research and advocacy organization, and the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, with the participation of 28 journalists representing print, television, and online media at BMA Bhaban in Dhaka.

Speakers said, "It is crucial to stop the sale of oil in open drums and make quality packaging mandatory to ensure access to vitamin-fortified safe edible oil. Selling edible oil 

in open drums violates government directives and poses major risks to public health."

They informed that despite the law mandates fortification of edible oil with vitamin A, in reality, most of the oil in the market contains either insufficient or no vitamins at all. According to a study by ICDDR, B, around 65 percent of the total edible oil in the market is sold in drums, of which 59 percent contain no vitamin A at all, while only 7 percent meet the legal fortification standard. As a result, there is growing concern about the rising prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in the country, particularly among children.

They also mentioned that open drums are often used previously to store chemicals or industrial products, which contaminate the oil and can lead to serious health hazards. Furthermore, these drums do not carry any labels or source details, making it challenging to identify or verify the quality of the oil. Although an executive order was issued to phase out bulk soybean oil sold in drums by July 2022 and bulk palm oil sold in drums by December 2022, the directives have not been effectively implemented at the field level. In this context, the speakers called for a coordinated effort among relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Industries, BSTI, Directorate of National Consumers' Right Protection, and the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, to ensure the availability of safe, vitamin-enriched edible oil in the market.

The workshop also emphasized that the deficiency of vitamin D has lately reached alarming levels. Hence, fortifying edible oil with both vitamin A and D could be an effective, affordable, and sustainable public health intervention. The speakers also stated that exposure to sunlight and excessive light can destroy vitamins, advocating that oil be stored in light-resistant, opaque bottles. Highlighting the necessity for quality packaging of edible oil, they added that vitamin A deficiency raises the risk of childhood blindness and maternal mortality, while lack of vitamin D can cause rickets, osteoporosis, and several non-communicable diseases such as heart disease.

Fakir Muhammad Munawar Hossain, Director (Deputy Secretary), Operations and Laboratories Department, Directorate of National Consumers' Right Protection (DNCRP); Mustak Hassan Md. Iftekhar, Consultant, National Heart Foundation Hospital & Research Institute; Md. Shafiqul Islam, Business In-charge, Bangla Tribune and ABM Zubair, Executive Director of PROGGA were present as discussants. The key presentations were delivered by Dr. Aliva Haque, Program Officer, National Heart Foundation Hospital & Research Institute and Md. Hasan Shahriar, Head of Programs, PROGGA.