Mushroom growth of illegal bakeries poses health hazards

Low quality and adulterated food items, prepared in unhygienic atmosphere and treated with harmful chemicals, are often marketed under brand names and with seals of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution. PHOTO: STAR

Dozens of bakeries having no formal approval from Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute (BSTI) or licence have been manufacturing substandard and adulterated food products and selling those throughout the district for years.
These bakeries are posing serious health hazards to the consumers as the authorities take no visible action against them.
At least 84 biscuit and bread factories have been set up in five upazilas of the district in recent years. Of them, only 5 bakeries have BSTI approval, while the others have been running illegally.
All the 79 illegal bakeries make food items claiming those as Special Food Products. They mix toxic chemicals to enhance colour of the products and then wrap them in foil papers with fake BSTI seals.

The photo shows an illegal bakery at Durakuti Hat in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila. PHOTO: STAR

People including women and children take these food in good faith and often fall sick. Dysentery, diarrhoea and liver complications are common among the consumers, said Lalmonirhat Civil Surgeon Dr. Jahangir Alam Sarker.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the owner of an illegal biscuit and bread factory at Durakuti Haat in Sadar upazila, said, “We purchase packets bearing BSTI seal and name tag Special Food Products, Lalmonirhat, Bangladesh, from two shops in the district town.”
“We put our products in them and sell those freely,” he said, adding that bakery owners sometimes use toxic chemicals to enhance food colour to attract customers.
Mobarak Hossain Khandaker, a schoolteacher at Durakuti village, said the bakery owners were able to manufacture and supply adulterated products because there was no authority to hold them accountable.
Contacted, Mantos Kumar, a field officer of BSTI said, they had served notices on several illegal bakery owners in Lalmonirhat asking them to obtain licence but there was no response.
“Without help of local administration, BSTI officials can't conduct any drive against these illegal bakeries," he said.
Lalmonirhat District Commissioner Habibur Rahman said, he will propose mobile courts to take steps against the illegal bakery owners and stop their illegal business.