Bangladesh: Vermicelli not on BSTI list of consumer products

Dhaka, July 12, 2014 (New Age): Vermicelli except the oil-fried ones (lachchha semai) is not on the list of mandatory certification marks of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution despite its huge demand not only in Ramadan but throughout the year.
Dishonest businessmen taking advantage of the loophole have set up hundreds of manually operated machines in different parts of the country, mainly in the slums and remote areas, for producing the food item ignoring its quality.
Lachchha semai, though it is on the list of BSTI consumer items, are also being produced in the unauthorised factories using low quality and harmful raw materials.
The producers are sending low-quality vermicelli in colourful packs similar to popular brands for exploiting the customers. Sometimes they are using the fake BSTI sticker on the packets.
Former director general of the institution Golam Mowlah told New Age on Friday that vermicelli was a popular and widely consumed food item in the country, but there was no constant monitoring on its production.
‘The authorities including the BSTI cannot avoid the responsibility. They must ensure quality of vermicelli as an important food item,’ he said adding that the institution should bring all sorts of vermicelli on the list of its consumer products.
Golam Mowlah, also professor of Institute of Nutrition and Food Science at Dhaka University, said that consumption of substandard vermicelli could cause serious health hazards including acidity, vomiting, diarrhoea and many other diseases as low grades raw materials including expired flour and substandard oil were being used for producing the food item.
The law enforcing agencies on Thursday busted an unauthorised factory at Kamrangir Char in the capital where adulterated and low quality vermicelli was being packaged using the label of ‘Pure ACI Vermicelli’.
ACI Limited authorities, however, told the law enforcers that they had no such vermicelli factory there.
In Rangpur, a section of unauthorised factory owners are reportedly manufacturing substandard lachchha semai, Ghee Bhaja Semai and Sada Semai at places in the district including station area, Babupara, Alamnagar, Shalbon, Mulatol and CO Bazar areas in the city.
In Nilphamari, several hundred makeshift factories have been set at places at Syedpur upazila to produce substandard vermicelli.
In Rajshahi, many businessmen usually set up factories before every Eid at Rajshahi BISIC industrial zone and its adjacent areas to produce substandard vermicelli for extra benefit.
New Age correspondent in Chittagong correspondent reported that dishonest businessmen were producing and marketing substandard vermicelli setting up makeshift factories at places in the city including Khatunganj, Asadganj, Bakolia, Badurtala and Madarbari.
The Institute of Public Health tested vermicelli in the last two years and found that many of the tested vermicelli were adulterated.
Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution assistant director Reazul Haque said that he had already directed the field officers to make a list of the manufacturers of substandard and adulterated vermicelli considering public health.