Harmful Dye and Industrial Salt in Children's Chips: Two Munshiganj Factories Fined, 2,500kg Destroyed

A mobile court in Munshiganj Sadar upazila has fined two firms a total of Tk 170,000 for using harmful dyes and industrial salt to make raw chips sold as children's food. The drive was carried out on Monday (October 19) in the Dashkani area of the upazila.

The two firms fined are Rajdhani Chips and Bhai Bhai Chips. During the drive, 2,500 kilograms of their chips were seized and destroyed. The electricity connections of both factories were also disconnected on the spot.

The Narayanganj regional office of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) said the two firms were producing the raw chips in unhygienic conditions using harmful synthetic dyes and industrial salt. Neither ingredient is fit for use in food, yet both were being used in food marketed to children.

The violations were not limited to ingredients; the packaging also breached the rules. The chips were being sold and marketed in sacks and packets carrying no label or marking of any kind, leaving buyers with no way of knowing what they were purchasing or where and how it had been made.

With the irregularities proven during the drive, the mobile court fined the two firms a total of Tk 170,000 under Section 42 of the Consumer Rights Protection Act, 2009. It also ordered the seizure and destruction of the 2,500 kilograms of chips mixed with harmful ingredients.

Following the order, BSTI officials destroyed the seized chips through due process so that the products could not find their way back into the market. The sheer volume seized — two and a half tonnes — suggests the production was not a small-scale operation.

The mobile court was conducted by Md Omar Faruk, Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate of the Munshiganj Deputy Commissioner's office. On his instruction, the Munshiganj Palli Bidyut Samity immediately disconnected the electricity supply to both firms.

Present during the drive were BSTI Narayanganj regional office Deputy Director (CM) and office head K M Hanif, Assistant Director (Metrology) Md Rakibul Alam, Field Officer (CM) Md Yasir Arafat and Inspector (Metrology) Md Hafizur Rahman. The presence of officials from several branches gave the drive a coordinated character.

The use of industrial salt and harmful dyes in children's food revives long-standing concerns over food safety. Chips are consumed mainly by children, in whose bodies harmful chemicals can have a greater effect than in adults, as specialists regularly warn.

The marketing of products in unlabelled sacks also means it is difficult to trace where these chips have already reached. The Dashkani drive is therefore not just action against two factories, but a warning about unmarked children's food spread across the wider market.

Whether the two firms will be able to resume operations after paying the fine and correcting their production process, or whether further action will follow, could not be learned immediately from those involved in the drive.