Shawdesh desk:

Bangladesh has no effective inspection and monitoring mechanism to check baby food items.

Safe food campaigners have alleged that expired, low-quality, and mislabelled baby food items swarm markets due to poor surveillance.

Baby food items sold in Bangladesh are mostly imported, except for Nestle Bangladesh, which produces some items.

The conditions in which baby foods are preserved in the complex value chain are never monitored, giving rise to health concerns from babies taking these foods.

Many baby food items require temperature control, but shops selling baby foods often lack adequate arrangements to keep them at the required temperature.

Many baby foods do not even have labels describing their nutritional contents.

‘There are many allegations regarding the quality of baby food items on the market, but there is not enough monitoring to ensure safe food for children,’ Consumers Association of Bangladesh president Ghulam Rahman told New Age.

He said that strict surveillance should be conducted by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution and the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, while there was also a need for regular tests of the food.

The baby food safety issue came to light recently after Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organisation, published a report claiming that Nestle, a Swiss multinational company, uses harmful added sugar in baby foods for poorer countries.

At least 10 companies import baby food items in Bangladesh, while only Nestle Bangladesh produces baby food by setting up a factory.

When asked, Institute of Public Health director professor Nasir Uddin said that there were huge numbers of allegations regarding the quality of baby food items in markets.

‘We conducted around 150 tests related to baby food last year, but in many cases, we did not find proper nutrition as per the declarations of the companies on the packets of the products,’ he said.

‘We sent the test results to the departments concerned for appropriate action,’ he said.

About the allegations, Nestle Bangladesh PLC company secretary Debabrata Roy Chowdhury said that they would ‘never compromise over compliance’ as it is an ‘essential characteristic’ of Nestle Bangladesh.’

When asked about monitoring of baby food items, AHM Shafiquzzaman,  director general of the Directorate of National Consumers Rights Protection, said that they conduct drives at markets whenever they receive information about the sale of adulterated or date-expired baby food.

‘But it is not possible to check baby food at every shop because we have a manpower shortage,’ said Shafiquzzaman.

Bangladesh Food Safety Authority chairman Zakaria, who did not give a second name, said that they were not monitoring baby food items.

‘We do not monitor baby food because it is not under our jurisdiction. BSTI is the organisation that should look after the quality of baby food,’ he said.

BSTI deputy director Reazul Haque said that BSTI collects samples of the baby food items in the presence of the three authorities—customs, port, and BSTI—and then they provide clearance for entry after testing the samples of the products.

‘We also conduct a drive at the market if we find any specific allegation regarding the baby food items,’ he said.

A study report published by the Directorate General of Health Services in March also revealed inadequacies in the inspection and monitoring of imported baby food in Bangladesh.

The study found that imported baby food often has multiple expiration dates, some of which are not genuine.

The researchers raised their concerns about the accuracy of expiration dates on these products, saying that inspections at the port of entry remained inadequate, with quality and expiration date checks being cursory at best.

The study report said that these weaknesses create opportunities for low-quality products to enter the market, not just for baby food but for other food products and their raw materials.

‘We found that powdered milk and other food products are often stacked in a way that can damage the packaging and reduce the quality of the product,’ said IPH director Nasir Uddin, also the lead researcher of the study.

The DGHS study also stressed stricter regulations and improved monitoring throughout the supply chain to safeguard public health.

The study also revealed a lack of adherence to proper storage and handling practices throughout the supply chain. From import to consumer purchase, the cold chain is frequently compromised, jeopardising product quality.

Similarly, supermarkets and grocery stores often disregard designated storage protocols for baby food items.

The study did not assess the extent to which product quality was affected by the decoration of products in stores.

The findings showed that while many people are aware of the relevant laws and regulations, they do not comply with them.

In a directive issued on January 25, 2018, the Bangladesh Safe Food Authority made it mandatory to test every consignment of powdered milk and baby food.

However, this test is only conducted to see if the product contains lead.

The Atomic Energy Commission and the Institute of Public Health conducted this test. However, expiration dates are never verified.

Infant and Young Children Nutrition Association president Iftekhar Rashid claimed that tampering with expiry dates is a possibility, as a significant portion of baby milk enters the country through personal luggage, accounting for about 20–30 per cent of the total market.

He clarified that baby milk imported legally is regularly tested by BSTI for each batch.

The licensing authority, IPH, conducts its tests and checks previous inspection records every three years, minimising the chances of tampering in this case.

He also said the expiration dates are mentioned on the documents from the exporting company, which can be cross-checked with the products sold in the market.

According to National Board of Revenue data, the country imported 7,022.63 tonnes of baby foods worth Tk 635 crore in FY2021-22.