The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) has ordered eight products from four companies withdrawn from the market for failing to meet government standards. The agency says the products contained excess preservatives and harmful micro-organisms.

The four companies on the list are Fresh Garden Agro Resources, Kazi Food Industries Limited, Olive Bangladesh Limited and Deco Foods Limited. In the interest of public health and consumer protection, they have been told to stop producing, selling and distributing the products until fresh approval is granted.

The first name matters most for farm produce. BSTI said mango pickle made by Fresh Garden Agro Resources was found to contain more preservative than the permitted level.

Kazi Food Industries' Bellissimo brand Rotondo hazelnut coated chocolate ice cream has also been ordered off the shelves, after a batch was found to contain more milk solids not-fat than the Bangladesh standard allows.

Laboratory testing detected micro-organisms harmful to human health in Olive Bangladesh's Labonno brand milk skin lotion, aloe vera skin lotion, Moringa+Matcha foaming milk face wash and its tulsi and lovera shampoo variants. Deco Foods' Deco Fruit Funda mango and orange soft drink powders were ordered withdrawn for containing less vitamin C than the Bangladesh standard requires.

A deadline was set. Md Alauddin Hussain, director of BSTI's certification marks wing, told BBC Bangla: "Today and tomorrow have been given. Within that time they must withdraw the goods they have supplied from the shops." If they fail to do so, he said, legal action will follow, with imprisonment and fines.

Such orders are not unusual. Only last week BSTI ordered three food products from three companies withdrawn over excessive preservatives, and in 2019 it ordered the withdrawal of 52 products including salt, spices and edible oil. Each time the same question returns: how does a product fail a standards test after it has been approved, and what about the comparable products still on the shelves?

Source: BBC Bangla