The national food safety watchdog is well equipped to check adulterated food sales and discipline errant traders in Dhaka city.
To protect consumer rights, the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) now monitors food market regularly to stop spurious food sales here.
Officials said the BFSA has already employed a magistrate to monitor eateries, confectionaries, fast food and sweet shops.
"We've engaged an executive magistrate to conduct regular drive against commercial establishments that produce, market and sell adulterated foods to consumers," said BFSA chairman Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque.
The BFSA raided five business establishments-two sweet shops, a Chinese restaurant, a bakery and a fast food shop-in the city last week, he told the FE.
The owners of the shops were fined more than Tk 2.5 million for selling spurious food items, violating existing rules on hygiene.
Mr Hoque said they have requested the government to provide a number of magistrates for frequent drives in Dhaka and other parts of the country.
The BFSA could not conduct regular market monitoring drive in the past for lack of adequate logistic support, he mentioned.
"The monitoring drive started on October 16 and it will continue," BFSA executive magistrate Tusher Ahmed told the FE.
Parliament passed the Food Safety Act 2013 on October 10, 2013, after repealing and re-enacting the outdated laws on food safety.
The BFSA was established on February 02, 2015, under the law.
The law allows the body to monitor and regulate activities relating to food production, import, processing, stockpiling, supply, marketing and sales.
The BFSA aims to ensure safe food through appropriate application of scientific processes and the state-of-the-art technology.
