A Dhaka court has issued an arrest warrant against Sadiul Islam, the owner of Confidence Salt Limited, after laboratory tests found the company’s iodised vacuum salt to be substandard, with iodine and sulphate levels below required standards.
Special Metropolitan Magistrate Nusrat Sahara Bithi of Pure Food Court-2 issued the warrant on Wednesday, following a case filed under the Safe Food Act 2013. The next hearing has been scheduled for December 29.
The court action follows laboratory findings that declared the Confidence iodised vacuum salt “unsafe” and “not up to standard”, according to case documents.
The case was filed by Md Kamrul Hasan, prosecuting officer and Safe Food Inspector of Dhaka South City Corporation, who also serves as food and sanitation officer for zones 2 and 6.
According to the case records, inspectors collected a salt sample on November 30, 2023, during an on-the-spot inspection at Dui Bondhu Store in the Tilpapara area of Khilgaon.
The inspectors purchased 1,000 grams of the salt for Tk40 in the presence of shop owner Tajul Islam. The sample was divided into four sealed portions—one handed to the seller, one sent to the chief health officer for future reference, and two forwarded to the Modern Food Laboratory and Training Centre for testing.
The laboratory test report, signed by a food analyst of the Bangladesh Safe Food Authority, showed that sodium chloride content stood at 99.67 per cent, which is within the permissible limit.
However, iodine content was found to be only 13 parts per million (ppm), below the required range of 20–50 ppm. Sulphate levels were recorded at 0.001 per cent, also below the prescribed maximum limit of 0.60 per cent.
Based on these findings, the laboratory certified the sample as “unsafe” and “substandard” under the Safe Food Act 2013.
Following the test results, a notice was issued to Confidence Salt Limited owner Sadiul Islam on December 4, 2023. Although a response was submitted, the case records state that it was not satisfactory.
The case was subsequently filed for violating Section 26 of the Safe Food Act 2013, an offence punishable under Section 58 of the same law.
Court documents state that Confidence Salt Limited is based in the West Gomdandi area of Boalkhali upazila in Chattogram.
The court took cognisance of the charges and issued the arrest warrant.
