Despite having been declared a formalin-free market by the commerce minister, traders at the Badamtali wholesale fruit market in downtown Dhaka are allegedly selling formalin-treated fruits.
“Various seasonal fruits, treated with formalin, always enter the market from different parts of the country,” a trader of the Old Dhaka market, on condition of anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“A mobile court had visited the market on May 27 and fined three sellers Tk50,000 each for selling adulterated and chemical-mixed fruits,” he said.
Leaders of the shop owners association, however, claimed that the traders apply formalin to neither local fruits nor imported ones.
They also claimed they have a formalin testing machine with which they always check if fruits contain formalin before unloading. They said the fruits get poisoned at the place of origin before those are shipped to Dhaka since the law enforcement is lax in fruit-growing places outside the capital.
However, they said there might be some formalin-mixed fruits in one or two shops because sometimes they could not check all the fruits as huge consignments arrived at a time.
On March 9, the Badamtali Wholesale Fruit Market Association, upon a Dhaka Bank funded FBCCI initiative, decided to make the market formalin-free and took various steps in this regard.
On April 27, Commerce Minister GM Quader inspected the market and declared it “formalin-free” at the presence of FBCCI top brass.
While visiting the market on Thursday, this correspondent found traders receiving consignments of local and imported fruits without any kind of examination following through.
“We are trying really hard to establish a formalin-free market and we have made some progress,” Sadhan Chandra Das, a fruit importer and supplier, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“Farmers in the faraway districts apply formalin, carbide and other toxic chemicals to premature mango and then bring them to us. So it is very difficult for us to stop the practice from here,” he said.
“We, however, have cautioned the farmers and suppliers against supplying formalin-mixed fruits. We are also trying to boycott the dishonest suppliers,” he added.
Sadhan also claimed: “All imported fruits are free of toxic chemicals and the level of formaldehyde in them are well within the limits set by the World Health Organisation.”
Backing Sadhan’s statements, Vice President of Badamtali Wholesale Fruit Market Association Bairat Mia said: “Dhaka Bank Limited gave us a formalin checking machine. We are trying our level best to check the formalin limits of incoming fruits, especially those supplied by farmers from different parts of the country.”
The Badamtali market was developed on the banks of the river Buriganga in 1935. Despite being the main landing spot for fruits, the key market place in Old Dhaka is almost inaccessible due to dilapidated roads and occupied footpaths.
