No test from abroad yet

Traders from outside the capital bring in fresh milk to meet the supply shortfall caused by several powdered milk brands going off the shelves. The photo was taken at Rayer Bazar in the capital.Photo: STAR

A government taskforce during a meeting yesterday criticised the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN) of the health ministry for not filing cases against the importers and traders of adulterated and unregistered powdered milk brands.
The government recently formed the taskforce, comprised of high officials from different ministries, to investigate unregistered and adulterated powdered milks in the market. The taskforce would soon submit its report.
Surprisingly, customs officials told the meeting that they allowed importers to import the unregistered milk since they were not aware of the laws, sources in the meeting said.
The meeting was held yesterday at the Bangladesh Secretariat where representatives of the Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), IPHN, Customs and law enforcement agencies were present.
Golam Mostakim, additional secretary of the commerce ministry, chaired the meeting.
The meeting did not discuss how and why popular registered baby formulas were found tainted with melamine in lab tests.
The government is yet to publish test results of samples they sent to labs at home and abroad. A source in the government, however, said the chairman of the BCSIR (science laboratory) has already received the test results from scientists.
"It would take two to three more days to get the test results from Thailand," said a government official concerned. He could not say when the results would be made public.
There are 46 registered formulas available in the market now and seven other brands have applied for registration.
Even though drive against powdered milk goes on in markets across the country, the public relations office of police made no information available in this regard yesterday.
Our Rajshahi correspondent reports: A mobile court during raids in Rajshahi city yesterday fined two shops Tk 2,000 each for selling powdered milk brands that were not supposed to be on the shelf.
Rab sources said the drives were conducted with the help of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel, Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) personnel and BSTI officials.
The same mobile court conducted drives at the city's RDA Market, Shaheb Bazar, New Market, Laxmipur, Hargram, Talaimari, Kazla and Binodpur Bazar and confiscated 10,355 packs of different brands of powdered milk.
The court also sealed-off two warehouses in the city.