Ban on 52 substandard products

On May 12, the High Court banned production, sale and marketing of 52 sub-standard food products found to be injurious to human health. The order was passed by a division bench, following a public interest litigation (PIL) writ filed by Conscious Consumers Society (CCS), an organisation working to protect consumers' rights, on May 09.
Earlier, a national daily had published a report on May 02 on the substandard products that led to the filing of the PIL.
Now, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) and Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection will have to execute the order.
The BFSA published a notification in the dailies on May 15, in this regard, mentioning the names, categories, brands and addresses of the substandard products.
This is a significant step. I hope that the order will teach all the conglomerates and companies who manufacture such food products and essential items to become more sincere and never compromise quality of their products. The BFSA and Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection should need to step up their efforts. If need be, they should not hesitate to seek help from other government departments and law enforcing agency officials.
All concerned government departments and consumers should work together to fight the war against substandard and adulterated food products in the country.
Naila Hossain,
Uttara, Dhaka