Food Safety in Nepal

Recent activities by quality monitoring committee for finding the situation of food safety in Nepal is praiseworthy. It has brought upheavals in Nepal in the area of food quality and safety. The authorities were passive regarding this issue till these days but their very few steps to find out the truth have revealed many truths which are affecting our health and life each and every day. It has been found many unacceptable food conditions like adulteration of Gudpak, decayed and unhygienic sweets, chemically unacceptable milk to expired drugs. We were enjoying slow poison as a food and may be still we are taking such low standard food and even we have developed resistance to many viral strains, bacterias and other microorganisms.
We have recently faced the outcome of such resistance which became able to spread cholera outbreak in other countries like in Haiti and we had to face such embarrassing blame which finally became the truth. Such quality less lifestyle and habits obviously make us host and source of many diseases.
Analyzing the loopholes:
Public:
1. Still many people are not aware of expiry and manufactured date, they buy things without looking these dates.
2. Though people find expired foods, they are not aware about where to complain and what to do next.
3. We rarely think about preparation phase while going to fastfood and restaurants and we don't check kitchen, food handling.
Producers and Distributors:
1. For producers, net benefit becomes the prime motivation while producing foods and they don't consider hygiene of food as their responsibilities unless they are monitored and controlled with some laws, rules and regulations. I have heard some action like cleaning and drying leftover rice for reusing again in hotels, whereas finding some inedible things in served food, providing unfiltered water is very common practice in restaurants.
2. Lack of knowledge, information and awareness and sense of lack of control over their business is also prime factor for their negligence.
3. Recently been revealed that 90 percentage of foods in retail shops in headquarter of Bajhang district are found expired so in such remote districts the quantity and quality of food should be monitored while distributing, the shopkeepers should be careful enough about keeping stocks.

Quality Control Body:
1. License: Quality of food should be controlled since the beginning, the quality control body should be able enough to identify the ability, determination, adherence of the industries or producers, infrastructure, set up, quality manpower, finance, planning and implementation plan to maintain quality of food throughout the years.
2. Monitoring: Regular and continuous monitoring, on demand monitoring and cross checking is essential.
3. Evaluation and feedback: Monitoring itself is not solution for maintaining quality of food, proper evaluation and feedback and on time improvement over the quality and standard can prevent no. of side effects so the situation should be monitored, evaluated and proper programme should be implemented for improvement.
4. Penalty: The fear of penalization, punishment produce deterrence effect and these should be applied in a strict fashion regardless of influence and position. No one should be above the laws, rules, regulations and policies.
4. Regularity: The monitoring, evaluation should be regularly done. Regularity ascertains the quality, and itself is a part of quality.