In a recent verified Facebook post, he claimed that after one-month expiry bread, a two-month expiry jam bread has also been found, which also bears the approval seal of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI).
He further noted that production activities at a factory of East Bakers in Gazipur district administration's drive have been halted. During the drive, some sacks were found there that had no labeling or ingredient names mentioned. His question is, what kind of materials imported from China are being used in food production, and whose responsibility is it to ensure proper monitoring?
Mahbub Kabir Milon claimed that when Dhaka South City Corporation's food inspector Kamrul Hasan sent bread from East Bakers and Arbotin Food to the lab for testing, excessive levels of preservatives were found. In this incident, a case was filed in the Pure Food Court-2 of Dhaka South City Corporation, and arrest warrants were issued against the owners of the concerned establishments.
He further said that the court has issued a written directive to the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority to recall the food products of the concerned establishments from the market across the country. However, he claims that the precedent of recalling unsafe food products from the market in the country is very limited, and the activities of the Food Safety Authority in this regard are also questionable.
In the same post, he also questioned the role of BSTI. According to him, no explanation or official statement from BSTI has been received yet regarding what kind of research, documents, or shelf-life tests were used to approve long-expiry breads.
On this matter, he further informed that he is conducting microbiological tests of the concerned bread at a laboratory on his own initiative. He mentioned that the test results will be available before the expiry date.
Meanwhile, no official statement has been received yet from the concerned authorities—BSTI and the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority—regarding the matter.
It is to be noted that Mahbub Kabir Milon is an officer of the 10th batch of the Administration Cadre. He retired on December 14, 2022, after serving as an Additional Secretary.
