Shawdesh Desk:

Ignoring a High Court Division order, dairy farms supplied pasteurised milk in the capital,  Chattogram Port City and many other places for sale by retail outlets on Monday.

The court in a suo moto ruling asked 14 dairy farms to refrain from production and marketing their pasteurized milk for five weeks.

On Monday, hearing appeal of state-run Bangladesh Milk Producer’s Co-operative Union Ltd, the Appellate Division stayed the ban on its product, Milk Vita, for eight weeks.

The other dairy farms said that today they would also appeal against the ban imposed by the HC on production and marketing their pasteurized milk.

On Sunday, the High Court Division in a suo moto ruling asked 14 dairy farms to refrain from  production and marketing their pasteurized milk after lab tests found lead and antibiotics in them.

New Age Chattogram correspondent reported that groceries and retail stores said that brac dairy limited supplied its Aarong brand  pasteurized milk to them.

‘The supply was limited compared to other days,’ said grocer Faruq said.

He said that brac dairy farms distribution centre is at Chattogram Wasa Intersection.

Another grocer in the same area was seen selling Aarong milk Monday morning.

New Age contacted a Brac dairy official and two officials of Brac’s communication department but none of them said anything about how and why Aarong milk was supplied to retailers ignoring the ban in place.

A shopkeeper at Rampura in the capital told New Age that he saw Milk Vita was supplied to retailers on Monday morning.

Almost every shop that New Age visited at  Badda, Motijheel, Eskaton, Fulbaria and Hatirpool areas in the capital were found selling different brands of pasteurised milk.

At Fulbaria, grocer Hasan was found selling the Igloo brand of pasteurised milk.

Igloo’s senior manager AKM Ali Reza told New Age that they did not supply pasteurized  milk after the ban was imposed by the court.

A number of shopkeepers at Hatirpool and Eskaton had Farm Fresh, Aarong and Milk Vita in their stocks.

Consumers hailed the ban and many of them told New Age that they felt cheated by famous dairy farms by supplying lead and antibiotics contaminated pasteurized milk.

‘I welcome the ban,’ said Mustafizur Rahman of  Maghbazar.

Uncertainties gripped small dairy farmers in Sirajganj after government owned Bangladesh Milk producers’ Cooperatives Limited announced that it would not lift their milk for an indefinite period.

‘We lost everything in floods  and now our only  source of income is gone,’ said Waz Ali, president of Potajia Primary Milk Producers Association in Shahjadpur.

He said that though many dairy farmers managed to sell milk to local shops but they soon would get nowhere to sell their milk  if the ban endures.

According to Bangladesh Dairy Farmers’ Association data pasteurised milk supplied by 14 big dairy farms meet only seven per cent of the annual nationwide demand of 1.5 crore tonnes.

The 14 big dairy farms collect 10 lakh litre of milk from 25,000 dairy farmers across the country every day.

And around seven lakh dairy farmers sell  directly to their consumers.

‘It is important that we bring dairy processing industry under control before it is too late,’ said Tofail Ahmed Chowdhury, a grocer at Hatirpool.

Aftab Milk and Milk Products manager Abdullah Al Mamun said that the ban would not solve the problem.

‘We don’t put lead or antibiotics in milk intentionally. It comes from the environment or other sources,’ he said.

Hearings by High Court Division’s benches in progress revealed widespread microbial contamination due to poor plant management and lack of cold chain for the distribution of pasteurised milk to retailers.

E. Choli and Salmonella were also found in pasteurised milk during lab tests the reports of which were submitted to the High Court Division.

Drug sellers often motivate dairy farmers to feed antibiotics to their dairy cattle for better results.

Then there is the case of faking milk. A Dhaka University research in July found presence of detergent in pasteurised milk samples.

There has been overpowering evidence at least since 2008 from researchers and government-run local mobile courts

that a mixture of  chemicals and detergents was being sold to consumers as cow milk.

In December, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority began investigation into the allegation that a mixture of chemicals and detergents was being sold as cow milk.

Small dairy farmers at Bhangura, Pabna, spilled their milk on the road in protest against refusal of Bangladesh Milk Producers’ Cooperatives Limited to lift their supplies.