Most of the soybean oils, mustard oil and ghee sold to consumers lack standard characteristics of cooking oils.
A recent study by the government found that standard edible oil properties like moisture content, iodine, saponification and free fatty acid were largely missing from the cooking oils sold in the country.
Consumer rights activists called it quite unacceptable that no punitive action was ever taken against companies marketing substandard essential cooking oils even after government studies found gross irregularities in the area of serious public health concern.
They said neither the consumers nor the retailers are aware about the values that ought to be there in cooking oils sold in the market.
They said that the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute earned the reputation of neglecting its mandated regulatory responsibilities.
They called it astonishing that even the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, heading inter-ministerial and inter-departmental food safety enforcement programme, also keeps its eyes shut to gross irregularities in the area of vital importance.
The Institute of Public Health, during a study done between July 2016 and June 2017, found that only three per cent of soybean oils, both branded and otherwise, sold to consumers meet the standards.
It also found that ghee and mustard oil invariably failed to meet the standards.
The study reports released on Saturday says that the shocking findings resulted from testing 96 samples of cooking oils.
On chemical analysis all the branded and unpacked samples of mustard oil, soybean oil and ghee were found to be lacking the standard characteristics of cooking oil.
IPH found unacceptable level of moisture content and free fatty acid in mustard oils sold in the kitchen markets.
It also found unacceptable levels of moisture content in branded and non-branded soybean oils but saponification value was lower than the set standards.
In ghee, moisture and free fatty acid contents were above the acceptable levels while saponification value was below the standard level.
The study found vitamin A in nine brands of soybean oil but only three of the brands were permitted value compliant.
Shahnila Ferdousi, head of the National Food Safety Laboratory of IPH, who led the study, said without divulging the brands that the samples would be sent to the BSTI for action.
BSTI spokesperson Taher Jamil admitted to New Age that the cooking oil market was under regular surveillance but the efforts were proving ineffective.
He said BSTI fines and jails scrupulous sellers to check marketing of substandard products.
Consumers Association Bangladesh president Ghulam Rahman told New Age that the marketing companies were cheating consumers taking advantage of their ignorance about the properties needed in cooking oils
He said that the irregularities continue to failure of the authorities to punish the corrupt companies and persons.
When asked, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority chairman Mahfuzul
Hoque acknowledged
that substandard products were being sold in the country.
He also admitted that the Food Safety Act 2013 could not be enforced as BFSA, created in 2015, lacked the needed manpower and the laboratories.
Ghulam Rahman demanded punishment to the errant companies, otherwise their names should be disclosed by the IPH.
Source: New Age
