This document outlines a proposed qualitative research study on food adulteration by street food vendors in Chittagong City, Bangladesh. The study aims to examine the current status of food adulteration, limitations of laws in regulating food vendors, health impacts on children, and strategies for prevention. Literature suggests food adulteration is a significant problem in developing nations and that 40-54% of foods tested in Bangladesh were adulterated. The proposed methodology includes using qualitative data from surveys, interviews, and focus groups with vendors and parents. Expected results are identification of locations with adulterated foods, diseases caused by contaminated foods, regulatory loopholes exploited by vendors, and recommendations for new prevention strategies.

2. CHILDREN’S HEALTH RISK DUE TO FOOD ADULTERATION: A
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON STREET FOOD VENDORS IN
CHITTAGONG CITY.
Food adulteration is one of the acute problems in Chittagong city. Food
adulteration is the process in which the quality of food is lowered either by
the addition of something of lower price material or by extraction of
valuable ingredient. Street food vendors offer food at a very cheap price.
Usually these foods are not prepared by considering health safety. Thus,
food-borne diseases outbreak among the consumer, specially the children,
as children are the prime consumer of street foods.
Name of the Researcher: Ashfak Mahmud

3. 1. What is the present status of food adulteration in Chittagong city?
2. What are the limitations of our law system in controlling food
vendors from adulterating food?
3. How severe are the impacts of food adulteration on children’s
health?
4. What are the strategies for the prevention of food adulteration?
1. To illustrate the present status of food adulteration in Chittagong
City.
2. To identify the imitations of our law system in controlling food
vendors in adulterating food.
3. To measure the severity of impacts of food adulteration on
children’s health.
4. To investigate strategies for the prevention of food adulteration.
Research Questions
Research Objectives

4. • According to Narayan Sharma and Suresh Joshi: “The problems of
food adulteration are more significant in the developing than
developed world and it was estimated that more than 100 million
people suffering from food adulteration.”
• A report was prepared by the National Food Safety Laboratory
(NFSL) under the Institute of Public Health (IPH) after conducting
adulteration tests between 1995 and 2011 on different food
commodities regularly found in the market.
• NFSL chief analyst and deputy director of the IPH, Dr Md Abdur
Razzak said, “Around 40 to 54 per cent of our daily consumed foods
including fish, meat, milk, fruits, vegetables, rice, pulses, oil, salt
and baby foods examined by the national food safety laboratory
were found adulterated and poisonous.”
Literature Review

5. 1. Qualitative data will be used in the whole research.
2. Both primary and secondary data will be used to
reduce duplication and get a better result.
3. Survey method will be conducted for primary data
collection.
4. Researcher will use both open & close ended questions
in questionnaire for extracting data.
5. There will also be focus group discussions among food
vendors & parents separately.
Methodology

6. • After a brief exploratory research some locations can be
identified where adulterate foods are found typically.
• After interviewing some doctors, the researcher will point
out common food borne diseases & the responsible foods
for those illnesses.
• Some regulations can be found out from survey, which are
taken advantages of by the food vendors.
• After analyzing existing strategies and current status of
food adulteration, some new strategies could be
established & recommended by the researcher.
Expected Results

7. • www.sos-arsenic.net/english/environment/food-
poison.html
• “Adulterated chili powder seized in Chittagong,” Daily Star,
Dhaka, August 11, 2009,Metropolitan.
• The Survey was cited in Q. M. Ali, “Some aspects of
consumer protection in Bangladesh,”Dhaka University
Studies Part-C (1984), p. 111
• Food Safety Program, “Populations at risk.” (World Health
Organization, 1999) p. 1
• The discussion of the weaknesses in the existing legal and
regulatory regime falls beyond the scope of this article as
they have been critically analyzed elsewhere. See A. N. M.
A. Ali, “Food safety and public health issues in Bangladesh:
a regulatory concern,” European Food and Feed Law
Review 8/1 (2013), pp. 31-40.
References