United News of Bangladesh

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Wednesday inspected a mobile laboratory used to test food samples as part of efforts to strengthen food safety monitoring and combat food adulteration. The prime minister inspected the mobile laboratory van before entering his office at the Secretariat in the morning, said PM’s Deputy Press Secretary Hasan Shiplu.. He went inside the van, stationed beneath the Prime Minister’s Office at the Cabinet Division, and observed the process of collecting and testing food samples. Officials briefed him on the laboratory’s operations. They informed the prime minister that food sample testing and monitoring have been intensified in all 64 districts as part of anti-adulteration drives. Mobile laboratories are being used to support these activities. At present, food sample testing and monitoring through mobile laboratories are being conducted in eight metropolitan areas. The programme is planned to be expanded gradually to all 64 districts. The activities are carried out separately through mobile courts led by executive magistrates and under the supervision of the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority. The authority is also working to introduce 72 mobile laboratory vans under its capacity-building project for the 2026–27 fiscal year. The vans also feature facilities to raise public awareness of food safety. Monitors installed on their exteriors screen videos containing food safety awareness messages. Food Minister Afroza Khanam, Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni, State Minister for Food Abdul Bari, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister ABM Abdus Sattar, Public Administration Secretary Kamruzzaman Chowdhury and senior officials of the Food Ministry were present during the inspection.