The Daily Star

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Dr Mahabub Hossain

One of the fundamental rights of the citizens stipulated in the Bangladesh Constitution is food security for all. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to maintain healthy and productive lives. The key elements of food security are: a) availability of enough food from domestic production and/or imports to meet the demand, b) access of the food to all people at all times through enough incomes and affordable prices, c) proper hygiene and sanitary practices and safe water for utilisation of food to have optimum impact on health and nutrition, and d) a regulatory framework in place and its proper implementation for controlling contamination to ensure food safety.