HC orders probe into pasteurised milk after report uncovers risks

The High Court has ordered the government to form a probe committee and submit a report within a month over the risks of pasteurised milk marketed in Bangladesh.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 21 May 2018, 12:05 PM
Updated : 21 May 2018, 12:05 PM

The committee will include representatives of food and health ministries, and Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh or iccdr’b.

Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury and Iqbal Kabir passed the order after hearing a writ petition on Monday.

More than 75 percent of pasteurised milk was found highly contaminated with bacteria in Bangladesh, according to a new research by icddr,b.

The research published in the media prompted lawyer Md Tanvir Ahmed to file the writ petition seeking legal action.    

Lawyer Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Barrister Mohiuddin Hanif (Farhad) and Jahangir Hossain were also present during the hearing.

Deputy Attorney General SM Moniruzzaman represented the state.

The court also issued a rule asking the authorities to explain why their failure should not be declared illegal, Tanvir Ahmed told the media.

The authorities will have to answer the rule in four weeks.

“Over 75 percent of pasteurised milk was found adulterated. It is a serious risk for public health.”

He said the court fixed Jun 27 for the next hearing.    

According to the icddr,b report, a research was launched in 18 Upazilas of five districts including -- Bogura, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Joypurhat, Rangpur and Sirajganj -- with the support of Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain. It was also published in International Journal of Food Microbiology.  

To assess the microbiological quality of milk at different stages of the dairy value chain, the researchers analysed 438 raw milk samples from milk producers, collectors, chilling plants, local restaurants in the northern part of the country and 95 samples from commercially processed milk found on the shelves of local retail stores in Dhaka and Bogura.

They found 72 percent samples from primary-level producers were contaminated with coliform and 52 percent with faecal coliform bacteria. They also found 11 percent of these samples were contaminated with high amount of E coli.