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The government has withdrawn the special facility for the import of different milk food products, officials said.
The office of the chief controller of imports and exports (CCIE) under the ministry of commerce cancelled the facility through a public notification which was issued on July 07, they added.
The facility was provided in order to import baby food especially baby milk from alternative destinations along with keeping such food supply stable in the market during the Covid-19 pandemic, the officials also mentioned.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CCIE had put on hold some conditions to facilitate the import of different baby food on May 11, 2020 according to the instructions of the commerce ministry, they said.
Currently, many milk food item exporters' countries have started resuming their export activities. For this, the government cancelled the opportunity, a CCIE official said.
The facility had only been enjoyed by the members of Bangladesh Foodstuff Importers and Suppliers Association (BAFISA).
From now, the traders concerned have to follow the section 16 (subsection 17) of the Import Policy Order 2015-2018 for import of milk food products like baby milk.
According to section 16 (subsection 17) of the Import Policy Order 2015-2018, "The words-'There is no alternative to breastfeeding' shall be printed clearly in relatively larger letters in Bangla in a visible space on each tin, airtight package or bag in box of baby food with cream." "Composition and percentages of various ingredients shall be printed in Bangla on the tin containers, airtight packages or bag inbox of milk food," according to subsection (E) of the policy.
Subsection (F) says: "The date of manufacturing and expiry (for human consumption) of milk food shall be embossed or computer-printed in permanent ink either in Bangla or in English on each airtight package with tin container or bag in box."
Under the special facilities were: Importers could bring in all types of milk products without mentioning composition and percentages of various ingredients in Bangla on each tin container, box and airtight package.
Besides, dates of manufacturing and expiry of milk food were not embossed or computer-printed in permanent ink either in Bangla or English on each package during import.
Many baby item exporters had been facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 outbreak. For this, importers could not import baby food items from those countries, an official concerned explained.