Substandard KitKat, sugar, powdered milk: Arrest warrants issued for Nestlé Bangladesh, Meghna Group, SA Group bosses
The warrants were issued in response to applications filed by a safe food inspector at the Dhaka South City Corporation.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the managing director of Nestlé Bangladesh for marketing low-quality KitKat chocolate, the chairman of Meghna Group for supplying adulterated and unsafe sugar, and the SA Group chairman for selling substandard powdered milk.
Nusrat Sahara Bithi, magistrate of the Safe Food Court, issued the arrest warrants on Monday (24 November) for Nestlé Bangladesh chief Deepal Abeywickrema and Public Policy Manager Riashad Jaman; Meghna Group Chairman Mostafa Kamal; and SA Group Chairman Md Shahabuddin Alam.
The warrants were issued in response to applications filed by Kamrul Hasan, a safe food inspector at the Dhaka South City Corporation.
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The Bangladesh Food Safety Authority also confirmed the filing of the cases and the issuance of arrest warrants to TBS. The next hearing in these cases is scheduled for 15 December.
Nestlé Bangladesh claims it supplies imported KitKat through proper procedures and that the arrest warrant amounts to "harassment."
Meghna Group, on the other hand, says it is unaware of the case.
Speaking to The Business Standard, Kamrul Hasan, the plaintiff and safe food inspector, said, "When we find any product suspicious during inspection, we send it to labs for testing.
"During our field visit, we suspected Meghna Group's Fresh Refined Sugar, and tests confirmed it was adulterated and unsafe."
He added, "We also collected KitKat from the market, and tests found adulteration and low quality, which is harmful to public health. Based on these findings, the court issued the order."
Debabrata Roy Chowdhury, director of corporate affairs at Nestlé Bangladesh, told TBS, "What is happening to us is outright harassment. We import KitKat from Dubai and India.
"The BSTI has not yet established standards for testing KitKat, so we import it in compliance with the permissible limits under the Safe Food Act. After the case was filed against us, we provided an explanation, but the complainant intentionally misled the court to secure such a decision against us."
Kazi Md Mohiuddin, senior general manager at Meghna Group of Industries (MGI), told TBS, "We know nothing about the case. These allegations are entirely false."
Zakaria, chairman of the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, said the authority routinely collects and tests samples from the market to prevent the sale of adulterated and substandard food products.
"Around 150 samples are tested every month, and immediate action is taken against adulterated products. Some items are found not to meet the desired standards. For example, chips may contain excessive salt, or certain products may have incorrect levels of preservatives. In some cases, the ingredients declared by the marketing company do not match what is actually found in the product."
He added, "In such cases, producers or marketers are cautioned, and samples are monitored for three to six months to see if they improve product quality. If they still fail to meet standards, legal action is taken according to the law."
KitKat case
A previous case (20/2025) was already ongoing over substandard KitKat chocolates.
This time too, Nestlé's imported chocolates were reportedly found to be substandard.
According to the supplementary complaint, on 10 November, samples were collected from a Shwapno outlet. They were tested by food analyst Ilias Zahedi of the Food Safety Authority.
The complaint alleges that Nestlé Bangladesh imported KitKat bars from Dubai and India without BSTI approval and sold them in Bangladesh, thereby "cheating consumers."
Fresh sugar
The complaint states that during a visit to a Shwapno outlet in Bashabo, Fresh Refined Sugar was suspected to be adulterated and unsafe.
A food testing laboratory found the sugar substandard.
On 10 November, Kamrul Hasan collected samples from Middle Bashabo, Dhaka. Food analyst Ilias Zahedi certified that the sugar did not meet the required standards.
The test found the moisture content in Fresh sugar to be 2.70%, whereas the minimum required standard is 8%. In addition, the minimum sucrose content should be 99.7%, but the sample contained only 77.35%.
Meanwhile, the permissible level of sulphur dioxide is 0 or nil ppm, but the sample showed 0.08 ppm, a level harmful to health.
SA Group's milk powder
According to the complaint, although labelled "full cream", SA Group's Goalini Full Cream Milk Powder contained almost no cream.
Protein requirement is 34%, but only 9.5% was found. Besides, the milk fat standard is 42% or above, but only 7.58% was detected.
