[CoastalCoder]

Interesting article. One thing I'm left wondering though is: for the offending vendors, how aware were they of the potential harm they were causing?

IMHO the punishment should, in some sense, scale with that detail.

As a parent, if I found out that someone was knowingly poisoning my children for profit, I'd have some very uncharitable urges.

[bee_rider]

Maybe to some extent it should scale with that detail. However, to some extent everyone in the food processing chain has a responsibility to be diligent and competent, right? If we let people off the hook for not knowing the quality of their suppliers, and finding out is expensive, then we’re applying a filter in favor of incompetence.

[slumberlust]

This behavior is pervasive across all industry. If profit is the sole motivator, public opinion or insubstantial fines are not enough of a deterrent.

[no_butterscotch]

I do wonder if some of the dirt poor street-vendors were "in on it" or just the fall-guys.

[alephnerd]

It's bought wholesale at Mandis/Markets. Any kind of lead adulteration probably happened with the Spice Distributor (either the spice distributor or the wholesaler). If you are a street food vendor, your margins are low so you would probably go for the cheaper alternative.

The price of turmeric across SAARC also skyrocketed due to higher than average rainfall in MH+TG along with skyrocketing "Western Hipster Superfood" demand, which has a carryover effect to the Bangladesh and Nepal markets.

Farms -> Trader -> Wholesale Mandi/Market -> Spice Distributor -> Restaurant/Street Food Vendor