Amid the ongoing drives against adulteration of food items by the government agencies, researchers at Dhaka University on Tuesday said all the samples of milk products, edible oils and spices they tested were substandard.
They have found traces of detergent in pasteurised milk produced by five companies. The companies are - Pran, Milk Vita, Igloo, Aarong, and Farm Fresh, adds United News of Bangladesh.
‘We tested pasteurised and non-pasteurised raw milk produced by these companies and found detergent and antibiotics in them,’ ABM Faruque, director of Biomedical Research Centre, told a press conference at Dhaka.
‘The traces of antibiotics that we found were meant for human use. Antibiotics for humans and animals are totally different. We need to stop the use of antibiotics meant for humans on animals,’ Faruque said.
The university’s Biochemical Research Centre and pharmacy faculty jointly conducted the study randomly collecting samples of the available brands and unbranded products of ghee, fruit drinks, pepper powder, turmeric powder, palm oil, mastered oil, soybean oil, and pasteurised and unpasteurised milk, said ABM Faroque.
Faroque, also the team leader of the nine-member research team of the centre and the faculty, said they collected samples between August 2018 and February 2019 and tested those following BSTI set standards.
‘The samples we tested were substandard. But, it does not mean that all the products of those brands are substandard and harmful for health,’ he said.
Pharmacy faculty dean Abdur Rahman, researcher Firoz Ahmed and Raihan Sarker were also present at the press conference.
