Adulterated food item sales go unabated

Sales of adulterated and substandard food items, such as ghee and butter oil, go unabated in city markets, as mobile court operations have remained stopped for long.
A BSTI (Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution) team recently unearthed different factories in secret places outside the port city that manufacture such adulterated items.
A number of products with different brands, makers of which have not taken any BSTI licences, are also on sale.
The BSTI here last week cancelled licences of two brands of ghee and butter oil, as the samples were found substandard after testing those in its laboratory.
A BSTI team earlier collected samples of Elders Pure brand ghee and Grand Mountain brand butter oil from the markets.
Although the two local firms named Elders Food Products and Packaging Industry, located at Pathanpara Lane in Pahartali, and Premier Food Processing Industry at Khatunganj earlier collected licences for their brands, they later marketed below-quality products.
On laboratory test, the two samples were found below-quality since less amount of milk fat was found in the items than the required 98.99 percent, said an official of BSTI.
BSTI Chittagong Deputy Director SM Ishaque Ali said palm oil and Vanaspati oil are usually used in the items.
On the sales of adulterated items, the BSTI admitted the absence of proper monitoring of the market. “ We face a dearth of manpower,” an official said.
There are only 7 inspectors or field officers in BSTI to do the job in greater Chittagong district.
Dr Ali Ashraf, a physician, suggested a re-launch of the anti-adulteration drive to ensure the quality of products.