A group of unscrupulous traders has allegedly been injecting various harmful substances into shrimps to earn extra profit.
Substances like water, jelly, glue, marbles, magic balls and lead etc are injected to add extra weight to the consignments.
Despite regular drives, such malpractices are still rampant at the depots of Rupsha Natun bazar of Khulna metropolitan city, Zamira bazar of Fultola upazila, Shahpur bazar of Dumuria upazila and Kharnia bazar. Depot owners, who act as the middleman, are accused of injecting the substances.
Md Abdur Rashed, deputy director of Khulna Department of Fisheries (DoF), said they had been conducting drives with the help of RAB and Coastguard against the depots.
“This year we have conducted nine drives and seized about 8,000kg of adulterated shrimps. We collected about Tk2 lakh 40,000 as fine and punished one depot owner. However, the malpractice could not be fully stopped as local administration and law enforcers do not always cooperate.”
He further added that some officials of the quality control and inspection section of DoF were also involved and would tip off the depots about drives.
According to locals, depot owners employ labourers to inject the substances into the shrimp. They usually work during the night and are paid Tk10 for one kilogramme of shrimp. Thus a labourer can earn about Tk1,000 per night making this a lucrative part time work.
Shrimp exporters expressed grave concern about the shrimp adulteration. They feared that such practices pose a great threat to the already shaky shrimp export and might inflict long-term damage.
Vice President of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters’ Association, M Khalilullah said: “The injection of substances, especially jelly, into shrimps is becoming widespread. We are literally being held hostage by the depot owners.”
“If the government does not take strong measure in this regard, it would be very difficult for us to maintain foreign clients,” he added.
Md Abul Hasan, inspector of DoF said the drive against the middlemen would continue. “We cancel licenses of the factories, fine them and also file cases. But the substance injection has not stopped, though it has been greatly reduced.”
District Fisheries Officer Prafullo Kumar Sarkar said they would take up extensive campaign to raise awareness against substance injection.
Proprietor of Runa Fish, Sheikh Mohammad Jahangir Hossain said: “Usually people who collect the fish from the farmers would inject the substances. It is not always possible to detect the substances at the buying point since fresh shrimps normally contain some water.”
Under this circumstance, a 3-member inspection team from European Union will arrive in Dhaka on April 20 and would visit Khulna for seven days.
They would inspect the six stages of shrimp production from farmers to the factory. They would also visit the depots, markets, transportation system and preservation methods.
Exporters said the future of shrimp export to the EU would depend on the report of the inspection team and urged to step up modernisation and monitoring of the sector.