HC asks govt to retest all 8 milk brands for melamine

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The High Court (HC) has directed the government to test samples of all brands of powdered milk on the shelves in the laboratories of Dhaka University (DU), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and submit the reports to the court, reports bdnews24.com.
The court also directed the government to publish the reports in the media to enable the people to make an informed decision on buying powdered milk.
The bench of justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and justice Kamrul Islam Siddiqui after hearing all sides Monday gave the order on an petition by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, a human rights organisation.
The court ordered the health ministry to test for presence of melamine contamination in eight powdered milk brands, namely Diploma, Red Cow, Dano, Yashili-1, Yashili-2, Sweet Baby, Nido and Enline, and submit reports to the court in 21 days.
The government has been ordered to collect samples from market in presence of representatives of the DU Chemistry Department, BAEC, BSTI and the owners.
The court, however, has withdrawn the ban on sale of Diploma, Red Cow, Dano, Nido and Enline pending the reports.
The court asked the government to seek the opinion of the UN's World Health Organisation on whether the presence of melamine is harmful to health by the time and present it before the court.
The court also ordered authorities to submit the report of tests on other brands as soon as possible.
On November 6, it summoned test reports on presence of melamine in the powdered milk brands and the government submitted the report to the High Court the next day.
In the hearing Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud participated on behalf of Nestlé, Advocate Mahmudul Islam for Diploma and Red Cow, and barrister Tania Amir for Dano.
The counsels of the milk powder brands appealed for withdrawal of the court order that banned the sale of the brands.
Advocate Manjil Morshed, representing the writ petitioner, appealed for fresh test on the milk powder brands.
Deputy Attorney General Razik Al Jalil represented the state in the hearing.
On October 23, the High Court ordered the government to take steps to stop sale and display of eight milk powder brands - Diploma, Red Cow, Dano, Yashili-1, Yashili-2, Sweet baby, Nido and Enlene - which had been sent to Thailand for test.
The government Monday disclosed to the court that the BAEC had detected high concentration of melamine contamination in seven of the eight brands of powdered milk tested.
The disclosure prompted the media and the consumers to raise questions about the government's sincerity about ensuring public health. It did not go public with the finds and sat on the test results for a week instead.
The interim administration on November 3 declared that only Chinese brands Yashili 1, Yashili 2, and Sweet Baby-2 had tested positive for melamine in a Thai and two local laboratories.
By the time the government had the BAEC test results in hand but preferred not to disclose them.
The makers also did not remove the items from shop shelves neither was there any recalls, raising the fear that the toxic substance may be deeply entrenched in the food chain, especially in children.
The amounts of melamine detected by BAEC are 175.2 milligram per kilogram (mg/kg) in Yashili-1, 172 mg/kg in Yashili-2, 330.4 mg/kg in Sweet Baby-2, 171.3 mg/kg in Nido Fortified Instant, 478.3 mg/kg in Enlene, 287.4 mg/kg in Diploma, and 7.4 mg/kg in Dano Full Cream Milk.
However, the BAEC did not detect any trace of melamine in Red Cow, which was found to be contaminated in the DU test.
Melamine is rich in nitrogen, and relatively cheap. Adding it to watered-down milk makes their protein levels appear higher. Standard quality tests estimate protein levels by measuring nitrogen content.