The government would show zero tolerance to negligence in duties of field level officials at the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution in monitoring food items and manufactured products, industries minister Dilip Barua said in Dhaka on Tuesday. ‘We want to show zero tolerance to negligence in duties of BSTI officials. Legal action would be taken against them if found guilty of carelessness in maintaining quality of foods,’ he told a discussion.
BSTI arranged the discussion at its conference room marking the 44th World Standards Day. The day was observed across the country as elsewhere in the world on October 14 with the theme ‘International Standards: Ensure Positive Change’.
BSTI director general Ikramul Haque presided over the function while industries secretary Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah spoke as the special guest.
Among others, director general of Bangladesh Accreditation Board Md Abu Abdullah, director (standards) of BSTI Syed Humayun Kabir also spoke.
Dilip Barua said that the government would not compromise with quality of foods and manufactured items whatever powerful the owners of food companies were.
‘We will not dare to take action against either BSTI officials or adulterators if the exportable are not as per specification,’ said the minister.
He asked the BSTI authorities to keep vigilance so that its inspectors and field level officials do not compromise with unscrupulous food makers.
Moinuddin Abdullah said that the BSTI was advancing towards its goal despite various shortcomings and as a result, awareness against food adulteration had been created among the stakeholders in the country.
The state-run organisation would have to be time-befitting, he said and urged the BSTI officials to issue certificates for products after examining them properly.
‘Please, do not give chance to any company illegally by wasting time while maintaining quality of foods and do not harass companies in the name of testing quality of their products…inform companies on time about test results of their products whether these are good or bad,’ he pointed out.
Ikramul Haque said that the BSTI had so far certified 3,500 food items and manufactured products since its inception in 1985. It was working to remove the technical barriers to trade.
-With New Age input
