With a view to safeguarding consumer interests and ensuring the accuracy of food product advertisements, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) organized a meeting to get recommendations in introducing the draft of the ‘Safe Food (Advertisement and Claims) Regulations, 2024’.
The meeting held in the BFSA training room was presided over by its Chairman Md Abdul Qayyum Sarkar.
The proposed regulations, consisting of 16 articles, address various aspects of food product advertising, focusing on preventing false information, offensive language, and misleading claims.
According to the draft, the BFSA will impose penalties on individuals or organizations found guilty of violating the regulations. The penalties may be applied if the advertisement contains false information, hurts the sentiments of a particular community, uses obscene language, or falsely claims the superiority of homogeneous food products.
Among the key points discussed in the draft are conditions for advertising food products, regulations for nutrition and health claims, restrictions on no-salt and no-sugar claims, guidelines for disclosing information on additives, and mechanisms for addressing advertising complaints. The regulations also grant authorities the power to immediately halt any advertisement that violates the established rules.
Md Rezaul Karim, former member of BFSA, was the key discussant in the meeting.
Nazma Begum, a member of the authority, delivered the address of welcome.
