SC lifts ban on Milk Vita, curbs on 13 other producers remain

Sales of state-owned pasteurised milk brand Milk Vita will resume as the Supreme Court has put on hold a High Court order for eight weeks.

But restrictions on the distribution and sales of 13 other producers will remain.

Chamber Judge Justice Md Nuruzzaman issued the orders on Monday after hearing a petition filed by Bangladesh Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Limited.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam argued for the state-owned firm at the hearing. 

Mohiuddin Md Hanif Farhad, a lawyer for Milk Vita, said the 13 other companies did not challenge the High Court ban of five weeks in the Supreme Court.

“We can’t cut off the head for headache. Yesterday’s (Sunday’s) High Court order would spell disaster for the farmers and producers,” Farhad said.

“We told the court that antibiotics or other problems in milk can be gradually removed,” he added.

The High Court on Sunday banned sales of pasteurised milk for five weeks after the discovery of substances that are harmful for human consumption in the products of 14 companies, including Milk Vita.

Antibiotics have been found in the products of all 14 companies while lead in 10 of these, according to results of tests conducted following the court’s order.

The ban left no way of producing pasteurised milk legally during this period as these are the only companies with clearance from the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution or BSTI.

After a icddr,b study found 75 percent liquid milk products in the country unsafe for direct consumption last year, Supreme court lawyer Md Tanvir Ahmed filed a writ petition seeking actions.

On June 25 this year, a BSTI lawyer told the media that nothing harmful was found in tests conducted on the products following the court’s order.

The same day, a group of Dhaka University teachers said they found antibiotics in pasteurised milk of seven companies, creating a huge health scare.

Bangladesh Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Limited Managing Director Md Delwar Hossain told bdnews24.com they submitted results of the tests on their products at the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) or Science Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University and an internationally renowned lab to the Supreme Court.  

“The court is satisfied that Milk Vita is not harmful for humans,” he said.

He argued that the previous tests found antibiotics in Milk Vita but did not mention how much is harmful for human consumption.

Moreover, BSTI was yet to set tolerable limits of antibiotics in milk, he pointed out.

“But we follow the standards (of antibiotics in milk) set in the developed nations. We’ve found these on the internet,” he added.