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Foreign company tricks businessman into buying $23M of spoilt milk
By Shervin Belgrave
Local Businessman, Saeed Rahaman Alladin
Kaieteur News – A European dairy company reportedly put the health of hundreds of Guyanese at risk by allegedly tricking a local businessman into buying $23M worth of milk not fit for human consumption.
The businessman duped into purchasing the milk, Saeed Rahaman Aladdin, the proprietor of S.R Aladdin and Sons, identified the company as Dana Dairy Group Limited.
According to Alladin, the company is based in France and early last year it sent him samples of its dairy products.
One of those products is the Dana Dairy Instant Full Cream Milk Powder. After testing and tasting it, Aladdin was convinced that it was of good quality.
“I tasted the thing man, It was good,” said Alladin while adding that he was assured by the company’s sales rep that the milk powder was a French product.
The milk that Alladin was tricked into buying
Convinced that the milk was suitable for the Guyanese market, Alladin in May, 2022, entered into a sales agreement to purchase over 1400 tins of the milk.
He wired transferred US$109,000 to the company, and was told that his order would arrive within a few months.
When a few months passed and the shipment did not arrive, Alladin made contact with the company to query about the delay. To assure him that he will receive the milk, the company sent him a photo of the product being packed in a container. The photo immediately made him suspicious because instead of being shipped from France, the milk was being packed from a port in India.
Alladin would soon find out after the product arrived in late December 2022, that not only was it less than the amount he had ordered but the milk was actually being produced in India.
Nevertheless, still believing that the French company was not in any shady business, Alladin went ahead to market the milk and even spent over $100, 000 on advertisements.
“I handed out some samples, I contacted Mattai’s and some other stores…”, Alladin told Kaieteur News.
With 34 years in the milk business, Alladin was trusted and the supermarkets wasted no time in putting the milk on their shelves, but his worst fears came through when his clients started demanding refunds.
They reportedly told him customers were complaining that the milk was making them ill and that it has a bad taste.
Alladin had no choice but to refund his clients and have them return the milk to his storage bond. He decided to try the product himself to see if the complaints were true.
“The milk tasted sour and it did not dissolve properly in water, it was lumpy”, Alladin said.
The state of the milk after the tin was opened
The businessman related that he immediately contacted the Food and Drug Department to conduct some tests on the product.
Those tests were conducted in April and May this year and as was suspected, the Food and Drug department found that the milk was not fit for human consumption.
Kaieteur News was shown the test results report and it had indeed stated that the milk was of low quality and contained “extraneous particles’ ‘. Those particles were reportedly sent for further testing to see what they might be.
In the meantime, the Food and Drug Department, because of safety concerns, moved to destroy all of the milk that Alladin had purchased.
Apart from the tremendous loss the businessman suffered, his reputation was tarnished.
His lawyer has since sent a letter to the company demanding compensation but it has been refusing to take responsibility for the spoiled milk and does not want to refund Alladin his money.
According to the lawyer’s letter, Alladin is threatening to sue the company if it does not agree to a settlement with him.
The Food and Drug Department destroying the milk in Guyana
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