FE Report
The government imposed Tuesday a ban on import of Nitro Furan, an antibiotic used in veterinary feed meal, to comply with the international food safety compliance.
The Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) of the European Union (EU) has long been persuading the government to prevent the use of the hazardous antibiotic in feed meal of fish and shrimps.
Against the backdrop, the government in an inter-ministerial meeting, chaired by Fisheries and Livestock Adviser CS Karim, took the decision, a meeting source said.
The meeting was also attended by Health Adviser Motiur Rahman, senior officials of commerce ministry, drug administration, department of fisheries (DoF) and National Board of Revenue (NBR).
A Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) will be issued within a few days in this connection.
Farmers have been using the harmful antibiotic as an ingredient in poultry feed-meal to reduce the rate of mortality, the source said.
Despite repeated warning of the EU, some farmers have been using the antibiotic as fish feed meal. As a result, a large importer of frozen food sent back a number of consignments last year due to the presence of the chemical.
Recently, a two-member inspection team of the EU expressed its grave concern over the use of the antibiotic in fish products, which are being exported to the EU markets.
The government has taken the step following the recommendations of the EU inspection team.
The concerned ministry will have to send report by next month to the FVO in Brussels on actions taken in line with their recommendations.
Sources said the pharmaceutical sector, which earlier used the harmful nitro furan as ingredient of some medicine, has already banned the application of the chemical.
But farmers have been using the chemical for long as veterinary meal in hatcheries and poultry farm.
Import of Nitro Furan banned
FE Team | Published: October 31, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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