Melamine tests
The High Court's ruling on melamine tests as reported in a local English daily on November11 is a step in the right direction. One however wonders if it really covers all the milk, imported or produced in Bangladesh based on imported milk powder.
In this connection, it may be noted that condensed milk in cans is produced in Bangladesh, based on imported milk powder. Some condensed milk is imported; as also a number of brands of liquid and evaporated milk. It is necessary that the melamine content of these imported milk products is known. For locally produced condensed milk, the melamine content for each batch of milk powder used should be printed on the can.
The same applies for all locally packed or imported liquid or evaporated, pasteurised or homogenised milk. The same information should be printed in all forms of milk powder; packed locally or directly imported for retail sale. All package must state the melamine content batch wise, and the batch number must be clearly marked.
This will cover practically all milk, produced locally or directly imported. Without this information, no product should be sold in the retail market. This will bring maximum transparency of milk quality, and help in protecting public health. It will ensure that the customers are getting safe milk; irrespective of their awareness about the harmful effect of melamine in milk.
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