The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The twelve-member expert committee that was formed to re-examine the much talked about tainted milk powder yesterday submitted reports of the three tests that were conducted in local and foreign laboratories, informed sources said.

Commerce Ministry sources said the result of the test, two in local and one in foreign laboratory', will be officially announced tomorrow through a press conference whether the 8 brands of milk powder were contaminated by melamine.

The expert committee was formed following the dispute from the multinational companies that market milk powder in Bangladesh that none of the eight brands whose test by the laboratory test of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Dhaka found melamine contents in the same.

The Committee, formed on October 19, was scheduled to submit the test reports after one week of its formation.

The eight brands of milk powder, which were found contaminated with melamine, are Australia's Diploma and Red Cow, Denmark's Dano Full Cream, China's Yashli-1, Yashli- 2 and Sweet Baby, and New Zealand's Nido Fortified Instant and Anlene.

Meantime, the High Court on October 23 ordered the Government to ban display and sale of these milk powder brands in the local market.

The High Court also issued a show cause notice to the government to explain within four weeks why its previous inaction over stopping their sale should not be declared illegal.

The laboratory test of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Dhaka found that all the eight brands of milk contained melamine ranging between 40 milligram (mg) per kg to 450mg per kg.

The result showed Nido Fortified Instant contains highest level of melamine about 450mg per kg and Dano contains lowest level of melamine 40 mg per kg. Other brands, Sweet baby-2 contains 280 mg, Yashli-1 contains 140mg, Yashli-2 holds 290mg, Anline 200mg, Diploma 230mg, and Red Cow 300mg.

The twelve-member expert committee comprises two teachers from Department of Chemistry of Dhaka University (DU), three members each from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), and the BCSIR, two members from Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI), one member each from the Health Ministry and the Plasma Plus, a private laboratory.