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GA-FDD urges recall of “deceptively” labelled milk
– thousands of cans already seized
A 20-foot container laden with evaporated milk was recently refused entry at the John Fernandes Limited Terminal Wharf. This decision, according to Director of the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD), Mr. Marlan Cole, was linked to the fact that the labels of the products were found to be deceptive.
Some of the milk products with deceptive labels.
According to Cole, the Department recently seized and removed from the premises 909 cans of evaporated milk with deceptive labels. Another 16,326 cans were seized and left on the premises.
Cole revealed that in some cases, the content of milk fat declared on the label was only three per cent with no disclaimer and a pictorial representation of a cow.
Among the products that have been labelled as deceptive by the Food and Drug Department are: Promex Milko Evaporated Filled Milk, Tinny Evaporated Filled Milk, Rosa Evaporated Filled Milk, G.I.V Evaporated Filled Milk, Grace Filled Evaporated Milk, Big J Evaporated Filled Milk and Red and White Evaporated Filled Milk.
According to Cole, members of the National Food Safety and Control Committee from within the various regions have been briefed on the state of affairs and were advised to take necessary action when the deceptive products are found.
“The Department is hereby informing all importers and distributors to recall deceptively labelled milk and to surrender them to the Department for destruction,” said Cole in a statement issued Thursday.
The statement asserted that “GA-FDD wishes to advise the general public against the sale and purchase of misleading (deceptive) brands of Evaporated Milk and Evaporated Filled Milk that are being sold on our local market.”
Evaporated Milk is a milk, or milk product which is constituted from animal source from which 60 per cent of water has been evaporated, and contains not less than 25 per cent of milk solids and 7.5 per cent milk fat. The label of this product may carry a pictorial representation of a cow, while Evaporated Filled Milk is a prepared blend of skim milk, vegetable oil, stabilizers and vitamins. The label on the Evaporated Filled Milk however cannot depict a pictorial representation of a Cow and must carry a disclaimer “Not suitable for Children under 2 years”. Such a declaimer is necessary because the digestive system of children is not sufficiently developed to process its content and this amount to a very serious public health issue, added the GA-FDD.
Part II (6) 1 of the Food and Drug Act Cap 34:03 of 1971 states that “Any person who labels, packages, treats, processes, sells or advertises any food in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to create an erroneous impression regarding its character, value, quality, composition, merit or safety is guilty of an offence.”
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