Amid consumers’ concerns over recent seizure of adulterated milk at one of rural collection centers of PRAN Dairy in Chatmohar upazila of Pabna district, the authorities said claimed that a it was a ‘conspiracy’ by a local syndicate to tarnish the reputation of the dairy milk company.
The PRAN authorities arranged a press conference at the head office of Pran Dairy in Badda area of the capital on Sunday.
They claimed that a local syndicate of adulterated milk suppliers in the area had failed to supply substandard milk to PRAN Dairy and out of frustration they conspired to stage the incident.
They influenced a few collection center employees to allow adulterated milk to enter and then informing the local administration in an attempt to tarnish PRAN Dairy’s reputation, they said.
PRAN’s Managing Director, Eleash Mridha, said, “We were deeply shocked when adulterated milk was detected during a local administration raid at the Village Milk Collection Center in Chhaikola Union. Immediately after the incident, we temporarily shut down the collection center and formed an investigation committee to identify the cause. Initial findings indicate that a local syndicate of milk suppliers who had been failing to supply substandard milk to PRAN Dairy for a long time—conspired with a few employees at the collection center to carry out this act.”
“We have temporarily suspended three employees suspected to be involved in the incident. We have identified several local milk suppliers connected to the case and have taken legal action against them,” he said.
Eleash Mridha also expressed concern over misinformation on social media.
“It is extremely upsetting that some social media posts claimed that soda, oil and detergent found at an adulterated milk supplier’s house were linked to PRAN’s collection center. In reality, these were unrelated videos that had been edited and falsely presented as PRAN Dairy’s,” he said.
Chief Operating Officer of the company, Maksudur Rahman, said, “Due to repeated quality issues in milk supplied by some dairy suppliers from Chaikhola Union, their supply codes were permanently canceled as part of PRAN Dairy Hub’s regular monitoring process. These actions were recorded in our software, and all measures were taken as per company policy. The suppliers whose codes were canceled formed a syndicate that had been conspiring to damage PRAN Dairy’s reputation for a long time and to intimidate our employees.”
On March 7, this group physically assaulted a PRAN Dairy official and threatened to kill him if their milk was not accepted. A case was filed with the local police station in this regard.
“Subsequently, they kept threatening to ‘see how PRAN operates here.’ Eventually, they conspired with the three suspended employees to introduce detergent-mixed milk into the collection center and inform the administration that it was PRAN’s milk—something that emerged in the preliminary investigation,” said Maksudur Rahman.
Kamruzzaman Kamal, Director (Marketing) of PRAN-RFL Group, said, “PRAN always collects milk from registered suppliers and tests it at four different stages—from collection to before processing. The first stage is at the rural milk collection center, where fat, SNF, and density are tested using a milk analyzer. After delivery to the mother hub, 14 types of tests are conducted—including checks for chemicals, soda, oil, detergent, salt, formalin, and PH. After reaching the Narsingdi factory, another round of full testing is done, followed by a final lab test before packaging to ensure quality before delivery to consumers. The recent Pabna incident occurred at the very first stage—at a rural milk collection center. If any milk contains soda, detergent or other contaminants, it is detected at the hub stage and destroyed.”
“As the largest dairy processor in the country, PRAN Dairy is committed to delivering safe and pure milk to consumers. To strengthen our dairy collection process, we are working on several initiatives, including awareness campaigns involving farmers, suppliers, law enforcement, and regulators; infrastructural improvements for early-stage milk testing; enhanced field-level monitoring; and installation of CCTV cameras at rural milk collection centers for round-the-clock surveillance,” he said.
He also sought apology to the customers and consumers across the country for the mental distress caused by the recent incident.
At the same time, he also assured that PRAN milk is completely safe and hygienic.
Touhiduzzaman, Head of Public Relations Department of PRAN-RFL Group, Syed Mustyen Kader, Head of Marketing of PRAN Dairy and other senior officials of PRAN Dairy were also present at the press conference.