Bangladesh Food Safety Authority is sitting with the firms that supply pasteurised milk on May 27 after a report revealed over 75 per cent of such milk is unsafe for direct consumption.
BFSA Chairman Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque said on Wednesday that representatives of the Department of Livestock Services and the icddr,b researchers who made the report will also be there.
“We’ve taken the icddr,b study seriously…We will take necessary decisions in the meeting to swiftly resolve the problems,” he said.
He also said they were mulling over setting deadline for the companies to fix the problem.
“Their products will be recalled if those are found to be contaminated after the deadline ends,” Hoque warned.
The icddr,b on Wednesday revealed the disturbing findings about the commercially pasteurised milk, the primary source of nutrition for children in Bangladesh.
The Dhaka-based diarrhoeal disease research centre says at every stage of the dairy value chain - from the farm to store - milk is found to be “highly contaminated with bacteria” above national and international standards, reports bdnews24.
However, this can only be dangerous if consumed raw or not boiled, which is often the case in Bangladesh, according to the researchers.