There is no presence of formalin or arsenic in the liquid milk of Milk Vita, State Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives Division Swapan Bhattacharjee told Parliament on Thursday.
“No sign of formalin and arsenic has been detected in the liquid milk of Milk Vita. The milk of the Milk Vita is complete, proper and tasty,” he said taking part in the general discussion on the proposed national budget for 2019-20 fiscal year.
The state minister said unscrupulous businessmen are carrying out propaganda that there is presence of arsenic and formalin in the milk of Milk Vita referring to a recent Dhaka University test report.
He, however, claimed that the imported milk powder is substandard and not nutritious.
“Milk powder which is being imported to our country is not nutritious. Milk powder is abandoned in Denmark and other European countries. Extracting fat from milk, the milk powder is being imported as bulk products giving 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 have increased the import duty on the milk powder from 5 percent to 10 percent, which is a timely step.”
He said they went through the report of the rest carried out by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), but no presence of formalin was mentioned in the report.
A test has already been carried out in Singapore, which described the milk of Milk Vita as complete, appropriate and tasty as it did not find any bad element 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 power which is being marketed,” he said.
