Around 12,000 bananas treated with prohibited chemicals to accelerate ripening were destroyed during a drive by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) in Pabna on Sunday.
The directorate also fined the owner of the business Tk 50,000 for the illegal practice under the Consumers’ Right Protection Act, 2009.
The drive was conducted on November 1 by a team led by Mohammad Mahmud Hasan Rony, assistant director of the DNCRP’s Pabna district office.
Acting on a tip-off, the team raided a cowshed in Pabna at around 4:00pm and found that prohibited chemicals were being applied to unripe bananas to turn them yellow within 24 hours before being marketed.
During the inspection, officials recovered chemicals used for artificially ripening the bananas. The business owner admitted to applying the chemicals to unripe bananas.
Following the admission, the owner was fined Tk 50,000 under Section 45 of the Consumers’ Right Protection Act, 2009. The fine was imposed and collected on the spot.
Around 12,000 chemically treated bananas were subsequently destroyed in public with the assistance of local residents.
A team from the Ansar Battalion and members of SRB-12 were present during the operation.
The DNCRP said such market monitoring drives would continue to ensure market discipline, fair prices and the availability of safe and hygienic food, while preventing the production and sale of counterfeit, adulterated and unsafe food products.
