Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) in a report has said that it has found waters marketed by 10 bottled water companies’ substandard and scrapped licenses of three of those.
The report, which is second of its kind, submitted to the High Court bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil on Tuesday.
BSTI in the report said in its operations, conducted from January 1 to February 18, it found drinking water marketed by 10 authorized companies substandard.
The companies were subsequently sent show-cause notices. Seven of the companies gave explanations, and three others — Ananda Plus, Real First and Best One — remained mum, said the report.
As a result, BSTI scrapped the licenses of those three companies and stayed licenses of the rest for different period of time, it said.
The brands, which were suspended for different terms are Canny (jar), Aqua Mineral (small bottle), Alma (small bottle), CFB (jar), Osma (jar), Epic (jar) and Yummy Yammy (pet bottle).
The High Court on December 3, 2018 had asked the authorities concerned to stop supply and marketing of substandard and unsafe bottled water.
After that order BSTI in its first report, released on January 21, found bottled water marketed by five companies substandard.