Stop publishing milk ads, reports containing misleading info

The High Court (HC) asked on Tuesday the lawyer of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) to stop publishing advertisements and reports on milk that might spread misleading information among the people, report agencies.

The bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir gave the verbal order.

It also expressed dissatisfaction at the BSTI counsel's remarks that the court was satisfied with the BSTI report.

"We didn't pass any order or made any observations about the report but you told the media that we expressed satisfaction," the court told the BSTI lawyer.

It noted how Pran Group was quoting the court to praise qualities of its products after the BSTI lawyer's comment. "Who'll take responsibility if someone falls sick after drinking their milk?" the court asked.

July 14 was fixed for the next hearing.

Barrister Sarkar MR Hasan stood for BSTI and Advocate Tanvir Ahmed represented the writ petitioner.

Earlier, the court directed the authorities concerned to submit the report provided by Dhaka University's Pharmacy Faculty and Biomedical Research Centre on pasteurised milk.

On May 21, the court asked BSTI to make a list of companies and file a report within a month after testing milk and dairy products across the country.

The order was issued after BSTI questioned a report by National Food Safety Laboratory which found chemicals in samples of liquid and powder milk and dairy products.