Faruk Hossain, a fish trader, brought a maund of Ruhita and Prawns to Malibagh kitchen market on Thursday morning hoping to have a brisk business like the previous days. But that was not to be.
\nHe was stopped at the market gate and soon four members of the market monitoring team carrying formalin detection machine found the chemical in his fish.
\n\u2018You can\u2019t sell formalin mixed fish here,\u2019 Atowar Hossain, one of the members of the monitoring team told Faruk.
\nA dejected Faruk turned around and left the market.
\nConsumers, however, were happy. They want relief from formalin as well as carbide\u2014two chemicals that have great risk for health.
\n\u2018I came here from Gulshan after I came to know this market is formalin and carbide free. We\u2019re tired of consuming chemical mixed fish and vegetables,\u2019 Ashikur Rahman, a service holder, told New Age.
\n\u2018It\u2019s a good initiative and I hope that the market sells formalin-free fish,\u2019 he said, pointing to the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry move to make the market formalin-free, the first of its kind in Dhaka city.
\nLike Ashikur, many more consumers have been thronging the market early in the morning from across the city since the FBCCI gave the market monitoring team the formalin detection machines on September 19.
\n\u2018Now I come here whenever I need to buy fish, vegetables or fruits,\u2019 Abul Kalam Azad, who came from Basabo, said.
\nAzad, an expatriate Bangladeshi who lives in USA, came to Bangladesh a few days ago.
\n\u2018I had been worried about the rampant use of formalin in Bangladesh which I came to know from newspaper reports. After I came to Bangladesh, I found that this market is formalin-free,\u2019 he said.
\nEvery kitchen market should take such initiative to prevent the use of formalin, the deadly preservatives, he said.
\nFBCCI has a plan to provide these detection machines in 10 more kitchen markets in the city in the coming days.
\nNurul Haque Nuru, another staff of Malibagh Traders Unity Council that monitors the market, said that they had fined three traders Tk 30,000 in the last seven days for selling formalin-mixed food items.
\n\u2018Our team remains in the market for the whole day. If any customer wants to check his food items after buying, we check it. We have also carbide detection machine to find out the chemicals in the fruits,\u2019 he said.
\nMd Shamim Bhuiyan, general secretary of Malibagh Market Traders Cooperatives Ltd, said that they were getting a good response from the consumers and would continue their drive against the use of hazardous chemicals.
\n\u2018I bought fish worth Tk 50,000 few days back from Karwan Bazar wholesale market. There was no formalin detection machine there. I had to count a heavy loss as my fish was not allowed in Malibagh market,\u2019 said Md Sultan, a fish shop owner at the market.
\nFaruk, who was barred from entering the market with formalin-mixed fish, said he would now go to other market to sell the fish.
\n\u2018It is now very difficult to get formalin-free fish and vegetables from the city\u2019s wholesale markets and prices of these commodities are a little bit high,\u2019 said Shamim.
\n\u2018Unless the government ensures formalin-free wholesale markets, some of the retailers will continue to incur losses,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faruk Hossain, a fish trader, brought a maund of Ruhita and Prawns to Malibagh kitchen market on Thursday morning hoping to have a brisk business like the previous days. But that was not to be. He was stopped at the market gate and soon four members of the market monitoring team carrying formalin detection machine … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[199,9143,9280],"yoast_head":"\n