State Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives Division Swapan Bhattacharjee has told parliament that no traces of formalin or arsenic have been found in Milk Vita’s liquid milk.
"No sign of formalin and arsenic has been detected in the liquid milk of Milk Vita. The milk of Milk Vita is complete, proper and tasty," he said, while taking part in a general discussion on the proposed national budget for Fiscal Year 2019-20 on Thursday, reports UNB.
Referring to a recent Dhaka University test report, the state minister said unscrupulous businessmen have been carrying out a propaganda claiming there is arsenic and formalin present in the milk of Milk Vita, a state-run milk production company.
The state minister, meanwhile, alleged that imported milk powder is substandard and not nutritious.
"Milk powder that is being imported into our country is not nutritious. Milk powder is discarded in Denmark and other European countries. Extracting the fat from milk, the powder is being imported as bulk product, with only 5 percent tax," he added.
Swapan said an evil attempt is on so that the quality milk of Milk Vita is not sold.
"After realising this, the prime minister and the finance minister increased the import duty on milk powder from 5 percent to 10 percent, which is a timely step."
He said they went through the report of the test carried out by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), but no presence of formalin was mentioned in it.
A test has already been carried out in Singapore, which described the milk of Milk Vita as “complete, appropriate and tasty” as they did not find any bad elements in it, said the state minister.
"I want to assure the country's people through this parliament that the milk of Milk Vita is much better, more acceptable and nutritious than the imported milk powder that is being marketed," he said.
