No plan to make formalin testing kit mandatory: Tofail

This Star file photo taken on December last year shows a man holding a formalin testing kit in one hand and a polybag containing mangoes in his another hand.

The government has no plan for now to make it mandatory for all shops to keep ‘Digital Formaldehyde Meter’ for examining formalin in fruits due to high price of the machine, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told parliament this evening.

Replying to lawmakers’ queries, Tofail said the National Consumers Rights Directorate is supposed to oversee all markets across the country to ensure formalin free seasonal fruits.

“To this end, drives are being conducted at 15/16 markets everyday when seasonal fruits arrive,” he said adding Digital Formaldehyde Meter (DFM) is being used to examine whether formalin was mixed in the fruits.

“This [DFM] machine is imported from USA and this is the only tool that can identity formalin’s presence in fruits through PPM method. But the machine is very expensive that costs Tk 1.25 lakh,” he added.

A large number of people get engaged in business when season of fruits arrive and most of them do not have the capability of buying the costly machine.