Government health officials and development workers put emphasis on creating awareness about risks and benefits of hygiene practices and proper food storage systems among people of the country.
They pointed out that washing cooking utensils before use and keeping the cooking place clean were essential to keep away different types of diseases and health problems.
They made the plea at the second meeting of Food and Agriculture Organisation's Food and Safety Promotion Working Group held at the Institute of Public Health in the city.
Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, national advisor on preventive approaches to food safety and quality of FAO's Food Safety Project, said they were running a project to improve the consumers' health in the country.
'We are now developing the communication tools and materials to change the common practices in the country like washing hands or washing cooking materials with soap or ash before their use,' he said.
The project which was launched in January 2009 will continue till June next year.
The experts said if the cooking tools were not clean before cooking it would increase the risk of cross-contamination.
They put emphasis on utilising community health workers to make the common people aware about this as they have easy access to them.
They would use such tools like group discussion, folk music and mass media to make people aware of the health related problems
Community clinic revitalisation project director Makhduma Nargis and Consumers Association of Bangladesh president Kazi Faruque, among others, were present at the meeting.
