Ispahani owner to recall a batch of substandard Ispi drink, gets bail

Drink items in a show room.

Dhaka, Oct 13 – A Dhaka court dealing with food fraud on Monday granted bail to the proprietor of Ispahani Foods Limited, Mirza Salman, after he promised to recall from the market all unsold products of the batch of ISPI Power Drink that proved substandard in a recent government laboratory test.

Mirza Salman is the chairman of MM Ispahani Limited, a conglomerate that owns Ispahani Foods Limited, which markets the drink.

The court of Judge Kudrat-e-Khuda of Dhaka South City Corporation, also ordered Mirza Salman to provide the court with the identity of the quality manager who had supervised the production of the drink.

On September 24, an arrest warrant was issued against Mirza Salman for producing the substandard drink.

The arrest warrant followed the filing of a case based on the findings of a government laboratory test. The test found that the powder drink contained .032 per cent ash insoluble in acid against the permitted level of .005 per cent. The presence of sulfide ash was found to be 3.09 per cent against the permissible limit of a maximum of 2 per cent.

The presence of excessive sulfide ash is an indication of adulteration and potential contamination with heavy metals or poor-quality ingredients, food experts say.

“The bail was granted considering that the Ispahani chairman will recall all products belonging to the batch that proved substandard,” said Kamrul Hasan, a food inspector at the Dhaka South City Corporation.

The businessman is expected to present a report on his actions at the next court hearing.

“We will be watching over the market as well,” said Kamrul. - UNB