No harmful substance in 14 brands’ milk
BSTI says in its report submitted to the HC
Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) today submitted a test report to the High Court saying that it has not detected any health hazardous substance in 14 brands’ pasteurised milk.
BSTI’s lawyer Barrister Sakar MR Hassan submitted the test report to the court during hearing a writ petition as per its earlier order.
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The 14 brands are-Pura, Ayran, Aarong Dairy, FARM Fresh Milk, MOO, Milk Vita, AFTAB, Ultra, Tania (200gm and 500gm), Igloo, PRAN Milk, Dairy Fresh, Milk Fresh, Cowhead PURE MILK, according to the BSTI report.
Accepting the BSTI’s report, the HC bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir Lytton adjourned the hearing of the petition for two days, Barrister Sarkar MR Hassan told The Daily Star.
He also said the HC bench passed the adjournment order, as a suomoto (voluntary) rule on the same issue is pending with another HC bench.
Earlier on June 23, the BSTI submitted the same test report to the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam during hearing the suomoto rule.
The bench led by Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder on June 23 ordered the BSTI to submit a report with the particulars of the companies and farms that are producing and supplying milk and curd in Dhaka with and without having a valid license within two weeks.
Following the same writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Tanvir Ahmed, the HC on May 21 last year directed the government to form an expert committee to test the pasteurised milk available in the market and submit a report before it.
The expert committee would include representatives from the food and health ministries, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), and other experts and researchers concerned, the court said.
The HC also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned why their failure to ensure the safety of pasteurised milk should not be declared illegal.
The food and health secretary, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, director general of BSTI, executive director of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) and the inspector general of police have been made respondents to the rule.
Writ petitioner Tanvir Ahmed yesterday told The Daily Star that the government-formed committee has earlier submitted a report to the HC saying that most of the pasteurized milk is contaminated.
He, however, could not say details about the report.
In the writ petition, Advocate Tanvir annexed the newspaper reports saying that 75 per cent of the pasteurised milk was unsafe.
