The parliamentary standing committee on ministry of industries asked the ministry to go hard on companies producing adulterated and substandard foods.
Besides, it also asked the ministry to inspect the factories and institutions regularly. The parliamentary watchdog came up with the instruction at its 3rd meeting held at parliament complex with chairman Amir Hossain Amu. Committee members – state minister for industries Kamal Ahmed Mojumder, AKM Fazlul Haque, Mohammad Shahiduzzaman and Kazim Uddin Ahmed attended the meeting.
"The meeting discussed the alarming issue of adulterated foods that have recently created anxiety among consumers. The meeting expressed grave concern over the findings,” a committee member said. Mentionable, food items tested at different laboratories, including Dhaka University and BSTI, were found to be adulterated or substandard.
The parliamentary watchdog also asked the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution to exercise its power properly and publish its report on the adulterated and substandard foods before print and electronic media. BSTI, the only National Standards body of Bangladesh, is playing an important role in developing and promoting industrial standardisation. The BSTI is a body corporate and its administrative Ministry is the Ministry of Industries. The meeting also asked the industries ministry to submit a detailed report on edible oil in the next meeting.
“Besides, the meeting also asked the ministry concerned to strictly monitor in order to ensure every company is marketing goods as per the ministry’s approval. Besides, it also asked to take opinion from the BUET engineers in order to maintain standard of the products,” the committee member said. On Tuesday, Dhaka University researchers have found detergent and antibiotics in packaged milk available in kitchen markets and grocery shops, raising serious health concerns.
The antibiotics include levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and azithromycin that are used mainly to treat bacterial infections in humans. The DU Pharmacy Faculty and Biomedical Research Centre came to the conclusion after testing seven samples of widely-sold pasteurised milk and three samples of unpasteurised milk.
The study also found that nine other food items manufactured and marketed by some of the top brands in the country do not meet the BSTI standards. These items -- ghee, fruit drinks, turmeric powder, dry chilli powder, palm oil, mustard oil and soybean oil -- also contain ingredients harmful to human health. The sample turmeric powders and fruit drinks, for example, contain substances that can cause cancer. Earlier the BSTI tested 406 food items and published the reports on 313, of which 52 were found to be substandard.