The Chittagong Customs House (CCH) has made testing of cadmium and lead, among others, mandatory before releasing any container of imported fish, officials said.
The decision was taken following existence of cadmium and lead, two health hazardous elements, found after random testing of 22 containers of fish, imported from the Middle-Eastern countries to the Chittagong Port, a senior official of CCH said Thursday.
CCH Commissioner Masud Sadiq said: "We have received allegations regarding presence of heavy metals in imported fish containers. Subsequently we sent samples of some 22 containers to Fish Inspection and Quality Control division lab in Chittagong under the Department of Fisheries last month."
"According to the test report of FIQC lab, 12 containers, out of 22, had harmful elements for health, which are higher than the tolerable level. Among these, the lab found cadmium in samples of 11 containers and lead in one container. We have received the test report in the first week of this month."
"I have met the fish importers to discuss this issue, and they have agreed to perform lab test for the sake of public health." Mr Sadiq said.
These elements create different types of diseases in human body, like - cancer, liver and kidney diseases.
Some local importers import different types of fish, like Chokori, Sad fish, and Mardin etc, from the Middle-Eastern countries to meet local demand. These fishes are being sold in the local market in the name of Chandana Hilsha.
On the other hand, fish importers said CCH's decision is a conspiracy against them. They said the elements, harmful for human health, are also found in the local fish varieties.
Meanwhile, CCH assistant commissioner Md Shafiul Hoque said at this moment around 50 fish containers are waiting for being released after these two mandatory tests are performed.
"We found health hazardous elements in tested 12 containers. But we had to release those containers, as only formalin and radiation tests and fit for human consumption certificate from the authority concerned of the exporting country were mandatory for their release."
"But from Thursday we will test all containers of imported fish for the sake of public health."
He said now around 50 containers of imported fish from the Middle-Eastern countries are in the Chittagong Port. Importers of all these containers submitted bill of entry till Thursday.
"We are encouraging the importers to release their containers after completing laboratory test," he added.
