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Almost all litchis formalin-tainted

Reveal tests by green group

Staff Correspondent
All the black berries and 95 percent litchis sold in 35 city kitchen markets contained formalin, tests conducted by Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba) revealed.
The green platform collected samples of seasonal local and imported fruits from the markets and carried out the tests at its office in the capital's Kalabagan between June 1 and June 10.
Disclosing the findings of the tests at a press conference at the office, the Poba demanded the government implement the Safe Food Act, 2013 immediately.
Abdus Sobhan, executive general secretary of Poba, said the tested fruits included mangoes, apples, berries, litchies and tangerines.
“We've used the formalin detection kit Formaldehyde Meter Z-300 to conduct the tests," he added.
Of the tested fruits, all 14 samples of black berries and 20 out of 21 samples of litchis were contaminated with formalin.
Out of 128 mangoes, 84 contained the toxic chemical while 11 out of 16 tangerines, and seven out of eight grapes were found to cotain formalin.
The chemical was also detected in samples of water apple, guava, pineapple, and lemon.
Other than fruits, the Poba tested vegetables and milk for detecting formalin. "Tomatoes contained formalin more often than any other vegetable. Some samples of milk were fiybd to have contained formalin too,"
metioned Sobhan.
He observed that operating some mobile courts to punish the sellers of contaminated food was not enough.
"We need a strong monitoring system of the kitchen markets and enforcement of the Safe Food Act, 2013," he noted.
The Poba official urged the authorities concerned to bring into force article 25 C of the Special Powers Act, 1974 which has provisions of death penalty or rigorous imprisonment of up to fourteen years for food adulteration.
"Ingestion of this chemical can seriously harm pregnant women and children. It can also cause different types of cancer," he warned.
Quoting statistics from the National Board of Revenue, the Poba said a total of 529 tonnes of formaldehyde, the raw material of formalin, was improted in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Last year, the commerce ministry prohibited import of formalin without its permission.