'Cases filed against companies of 52 substandard food items'

Bangladesh Food Safety Authority has lodged 52 separate cases against the companies of the 52 substandard food products as per the High Court directives, says a counsel for the BFSA.

The BFSA has prepared a report claiming it has removed most of the 52 substandard food items from the markets across the country, BFSA’s lawyer Barrister Mohammed Faridul Islam told The Daily Star today.

The report will be submitted to the HC on June 16, he said.

“Bangladesh Food Safety Authority has worked to confiscate the 52 food items which were found substandard by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution after the High Court has directed for doing so. The BFSA has handed over its report to me for placing it to the High Court,” Barrister Faridul said.

However, he refused to disclose contents of the report and names of the confiscated products and the relevant companies.

Replying to a question, he said BFSA’s Chairman Mahfuzur Rahman will appear before the HC on June 16 and will offer unconditional apology for not fully complying with its May 12 order.

Following a writ petition, the HC on May 12, directed BFSA and the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) to immediately remove the 52 substandard food items from the market and to submit a report to the court on May 23 after complying with the order.

During hearing the same petition on May 23, the HC bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil came down heavily on the BFSA for not complying with its May 12 order to get 52 substandard food items off the shelves.

The court rebuked the BFSA chairman, summoned him, and issued a contempt of court rule against him for not complying with its order.

It directed the chairman to appear before it on June 16 to explain as to why his office had not complied with its May 12 order. The BFSA chairman cannot go unpunished, the bench said.

Meanwhile, BSTI has handed over a report to its lawyer Barrister Sarkar MR Hassan on June 10 saying that samples of most of the 52 food items, which were previously found to be substandard by it have passed a retest by the quality regulator.

Barrister Sarkar MR Hassan today told The Daily Star that he will submit the BSTI’s latest report to the HC on June 16.

Earlier in May, a BSTI report, signed by engineer SM Ishaq Ali, director, (CM), had said samples of the 52 products failed against BSTI parameters.