Supermarket owners in Bangladesh have urged the government to instruct mobile courts to conduct scientific tests before indiscriminately dumping goods and levying large fines.
At the same time, they sought cooperation from the news media in creating a favourable atmosphere for the sector in Bangladesh.
Law enforcers and mobile courts make sudden raids at the retail grocery chains and take severe action, even if they find problems with only a single product, claimed the supermarket owners. This hurts the overall image of the industry and causes financial loss.
They made the claims in a view exchange event between journalists and Bangladesh Supermarket Owners Association (BSOA) at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) auditorium in Dhaka. Chairman of Agora Super Shop and BSOA President Niaz Rahim presided over the event.
Usually, mobile courts run by the state-run Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and the office of the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner (DC) conduct drives in the supermarkets.
At the event, supermarket owners urged journalists to highlight the positive sides of supermarkets, as media can play a key role in changing the perception of the masses.
“Whenever the law enforcers come for an inspection, media highlights that fact," BSOA President Niaz Rahim addressed the event. "But our positive efforts are hardly ever highlighted.
"The facts that we provide commodities at a fixed price even when prices are being manipulated or changed in other stores, remain ignored," he said.
Niaz said supermarkets have been providing safe and quality products to consumers for the last two decades, allowing consumers to shop in a much more convenient manner.
Consumers can enjoy a clean environment, women feel safer, all products have an expiry date, and consumers have enough time to examine the products before deciding what to buy, Niaz said.
“If the government and stakeholders do not make a coordinated effort to safeguard supermarkets, we are afraid that foreign companies may grab the market soon, hurting the local entrepreneurs,” Niaz, also the chairman of Agora super shop, said.
Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Dr Md Kabir Ikramul Haque said supermarkets have the potential to add value to the economy of the country. He called upon the supermarket owners to better market their shops to the media.
Former Agriculture Secretary Anwar Faruque said the demand for super shops is increasing gradually due to its clean environment and availability of fresh food.
“But the country has failed to reap adequate economic benefit from the industry because of a lack of initiative and coordination from the government,” he said.
The former secretary also stressed on lessening the communication gap between media and the supermarket industry to convey a more positive image to the public.
Meena Bazar Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shaheen Khan said, as a retailer, it is not the responsibility of superstores to check every single product for adulteration. It is the responsibility of producers as well.
“We will take full responsibility for expired products, but not for adulterated ones," he said.
He also urged the mobile drive operators to provide recommendations to the superstores after conducting raids, so the industry can learn from their mistakes.
Assistant Director of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) Reazul Haque said, his agency has always supported the booming supermarket industry, but it also has to ensure that all superstores maintain the minimum standards.
Denying the fact that actions are only taken against supermarkets, he said most cases are filed against the producers of adulterated foods and products.
"The BSTI follows internationally accredited standards for testing products," he countered. "It will not be easy to raise questions against BSTI's activities."
On that note, the BSOA President asked the concerned authorities or BRTI to check imported products at the border points instead of retail stores.
The port authorities should guarantee the quality of imported products, as it is not possible for the retailers to test the quality of all packet and container food, he added.
On the other hand, journalists called upon the supermarket owners to give them better access to superstores for covering news stories, as most of the times, they are barred from entering the shops.
They also asked the owners to sell products at a uniform rate in all super shops across Bangladesh.
Currently, there are around 40 supermarket chains in Bangladesh, running more than 130 outlets around the country along with the e-commerce bandwagon.
The popularity of superstore chains among the general public has increased significantly since the industry first started in Bangladesh in 2001. Agora, Shwapno and Meena Bazar are the three major supermarket chains.
