Online Desk: Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) has strengthened its drive to prevent food adulteration across the country during Ramadan to ensure safe food.

BSTI will conducts three mobile courts daily in Dhaka to prevent the production of adulterated foods, said Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun in a media briefing at BSTI in the capital on Sunday.

Apart from Dhaka city,  regional offices of the BSTI would conduct anti-adulteration drives at the district and upazila levels, said the minister.

The minister said the BSTI will take punitive action against adulteration, counterfeiting, cheating in weighing and selling products at prices higher than government-fixed rates.

He said businessmen involved in food adulteration should abstain from the malpractice as it could also harm their own family members. The minister also warned that no one will be spared, whether the adulterer is a small or a large-scale one.

He also informed the media that BSTI has already collected samples of 616 food items, largely consumed during the month of Ramadan, from the markets for tests to ensure their qualities and check adulteration.

The minister said BSTI will monitor the bottled water factories across the country through high-powered surveillance teams aimed at ensuring safe drinking water during the Ramadan.

Meanwhile, the minister mentioned that from July 2023 to February 2024, BSTI conducted a total of 14 special mobile courts for ensuring safe drinking water. Around Tk 5.30 lakh was realized as fine and one factory sealed off during the period, he added.

The minister also advised consumers to make sure that products have BSTI approval before ordering them online and requested them, if necessary to call the BSTI hotline 16119 to verify whether the product is BSTI-approved or not.