The High Court today ordered the government to form an expert committee by a week in order to select a new and proper detector kit to determine formalin levels in food items.
The order came following reports published in frontline media that the formalin detector Formaldehyde Meter Z-300 was found faulty by the country’s leading laboratories.
The HC ordered that the expert body will consist of representatives from Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI), Directorate of Consumers Rights and Nutrition and Food Science department of Dhaka University.
The government will have to buy an accurate machine recommended by the body within two months, the HC court of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice M Khasruzzaman ruled.
The order was passed after hearing a writ petition moved by Supreme Court lawyer Manzill Murshid on behalf of Fruits Importers Association.
The rights group lawyer told the court that ‘Formaldehyde Meter Z-300’ was found inappropriate for detecting formalin by researchers at BCSIR and BSTI.
On July 21, the HC directed the BCSIR and BSTI to test of formalin detector Z-300 to find out its capacity and accurateness for detecting formalin in food items.
BCSIR and BSTI found the machine inappropriate. They submitted separate reports to the court in this regard.
Source: The Daily Star
