Food adulteration: Meridian and BSP foods fined Tk 43 lakh in Ctg

A mobile court has imposed fines totalling Tk 43 lakh on Meridian Food Products and BSP Food Products Pvt Ltd in Chattogram's Kalurghat area for various anomalies, including use of expired food colours and flavours and for running production without license.

A joint team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) conducted drives at the factories of the companies and destroyed 5,000 kilogrammes of noodles of Meridian Food Products and 2,000 kilogrammes of ghee of BSP Food Products Pvt Ltd, said Kazi Md Tareque Aziz, assistant superintendent of police (ASP) of Rab-7.

"During the drive at Meridian Food Products' factory at Kalurghat we found that the company has been producing sauce, soft drinks and noodles using expired food colours and flavours in an unhygienic environment. The company was fined Tk 22 lakh under the BSTI Act and Food Safety Act," the Rab-7 official said.

"The mobile court also fined BSP Food Products Pvt Ltd Tk 21 lakh as the company was found to be producing vegetable ghee, noodles and sauce without any license from BSTI and using expired food colours, flavours and industrial salt," he added.