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Formalin testing kit unfit: BCSIR

Staff Correspondent
Formaldehyde Metre Z-300, a kit used in the country for detecting formalin in food for more than two years, has been found inappropriate for the test, said Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
"Z-300 machine’s reading of formaldehyde in soaked and fresh fruits varies depending on time, temperature and moisture," BCSIRsaidina report.
"Even, it indicates gradually higher level of formaldehyde in fresh fruits in warm temperature. So the kit's reading of formaldehyde level won't be accurate if fruits are kept in warm temperature."
The BCSIR submitted the report to the
offices of the Supreme Court and the attorney general yesterday for handover to the High Court.
Following a writ petition by the Fruit Importers' Association, the court asked the government on July 21 to have the machine checked by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), BCSIR and National Food Safety Laboratory (NFSL) and submit separate reports in four weeks.
The BSTI and NFSL are yet to submit the reports, the petitioner's counsel Manzill Murshid told reporters after receiving a copy of the BCSIR report yesterday.
The petition was filed in the wake of widespread protests from fruit traders against the destruction of tonnes of fruits, especially mangoes and litchis, by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police early June.
The DMP in its three-week-drive used the formaldehyde metre, originally imported by the Department of Fisheries (DoF) from the US manufacturer, Environmental Sensors Co, in early 2012.
It bought 80 devices at a cost of Tk 1 crore and distributed those in every division and district for mobile court drives.
Later, the Federation of Bangladesh
Chambers of Commerce and Industries, Dhaka City Corporation, DMP and the Directorate of Consumers Rights also purchased Formaldehyde Metre Z-300.
The Daily Star in a report on June 17 quoted a scientist at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council as saying the kit was not fit for testing food items.
The report also focused on traders' suspicion about the formaldehyde metre.
In the presence of evaporable chemicals — like acetone, formic acid, acetic acid and methanol - alongside formaldehyde, the machine may indicate misleading information, the BCSIR report said.
However, various chemicals, including the above mentioned, may exist in fruits naturally.
The Institute of Food Science and Technology of BCSIR suggested the manufacturing company optimise the formaldehyde metre's capacity and provide buyers with instructional manual. At present, the kit is applicable to measuring formaldehyde vapour in environment or air.
Manzill Murshid said he would pray to the High Court to direct the government not to use this machine.