The High Court has ordered to form an expert panel to test packaged pasteurised milk available in the market.
Representatives from the ministries of food and health, Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute and other experts will comprise of the committee, which has been told to submit its findings to the court within a month.
The court’s order came on Monday after a recent ICDDR,B report said that 75 percent of the milk available in the market were unsafe for direct consumption.
It also issued a rule asking why the concerned authorities’ failure to ensure safe food will not be declared illegal.
Secretaries to the ministries of food and health, chief of the health directorate, BSTI director general, the ICDDR,B and the Bangladesh police chief have been ordered to respond by four weeks.
The court has scheduled Jun 27 for the next hearing over the matter.
The order by the bench of Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury and Justice Md. Iqbal Kabir came after hearing a petition on the issue.
“The court ordered to file a writ after the matter was brought to its attention citing media reports on May 17. The petition was filed on May 20 and it was heard the same day. The order came on Monday”, said counsel Tanvir Rahman, who stood for the petitioner.
On May 17, media reports citing the study said Over 75 percent pasteurised milk available in the market were unsafe for direct consumption.
The ICDDR,B study found a high level of total bacterial counts in their milk samples which are harmful to health and suggested to have the milk after boiling.
The report, published last month by the International Journal of Food Microbiology, was based on tests run on 438 milk samples and 95 samples of commercially processed milk.
Related stories
