Why this bluff?
I would like to endorse the letter written by Mr Abdul Karim from the Jahangirnagar University published in your newspaper on last Friday. It is very sad to realise that most of our food processors do not maintain the truthfulness in labelling. Whatever they mention on the label usually not to be available in the content. In that good judgement it is right to write that soybean oil is 100% free from cholesterol, though in reality fat from plant origin does not contain any cholesterol. It is a part of their advertising technique, which can be allowed. But the offence is that when you declare something is added but not really added is a false statement. I have noticed that there are some companies who are advertising that their oil is 'enriched' with Vitamin A and D. Please remember the word they are using enriched which means adding back only those micronutrients that are lost during milling/refining and for which there is good evidence that a deficiency exists among the general population. Natural oil contains Vitamin A as beta-carotene, precursor of Vitamin A, but during the refining process the entire vitamin is destroyed. I have discussed with some refiners that nobody is adding back that lost Vitamin A in the oil, but they are publicising that their products are enriched or fortified with Vitamin A and D.
Some donor agencies are trying to motivate the refiners to enrich their oil with Vitamin A by adding the premix. It will be a good step if govt. agencies take step to make it mandatory to fortify all the processed edible oil with immediate effect. This fortification of oil will reduce the night blindness, and other Vitamin A deficiency related disorders among the population.
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