Lab testing has found that mango drinks produced by four local companies contain only 5% mango pulp on average, which is only half of what is required in such drinks in line with Bangladesh Standard Specifications (BDS).
The four drinks are Mango King of AST Limited, Frutix of Pran, Shezan mango juice of Sajeeb Group and Aafi mango fruit juice of Akij Food and Beverage Limited.
According to the BDS, such fruit drinks must contain minimum 10% fruit pulp and in case of juice the percentage should be 80%-100%. But the percentages in these four drinks are much lower than that.
The tests conducted by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) found that none of the four companies that produce these drinks are maintaining BDS.
Under the circumstances, the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) has recommended immediate legal action against these companies.
The test report, signed by Assistant Professor Dr Md Shafiul Azam of BUET’s Chemistry Department, showed that the lowest – 4.4% – percentage of mango pulp was found in Mango King.
Pran’s Fruitix came in second with 4.8%, Shezan third with 5.4% and Aafi had the highest with 6.2% of pulp in the bottled drink.
BFSA Member Md Mahbub Kabir told the Bangla Tribune: “The four drinks that have been tested fall under the drink category, and they should have at least 10% fruit pulp. But none of them are maintaining that. That is why we have recommended legal actions.”
However, Eleash Mridha, managing director of Pran, have brushed off the test report. “We are not aware of such a test. Any third party laboratory in the world can test (our drink) and that will never find the same result,” he told the Bangla Tribune.
Abu Sufian Jewel, regulatory affairs manager at Sajeeb Group, said: “We follow the standard set by BSTI (Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution). We have no information regarding this matter.”
No representatives from Akij and AST Limited were available for comment.
Source: Dhaka Tribune