An estimated twenty per cent of importers of foods into Guyana are in contravention of the law on account of their non-registration with the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department, a circumstance that raises concern that some of the country’s food imports may, through evasion of vital health and safety standards inspections, pose a threat to the health of consumers.
And according to Director of the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department Marilyn Collins the problem is compounded by the fact that some importers who are registered with the Department are also guilty of smuggling items into the country in order to evade Customs and Trade Administration taxes and duties.
The disclosures, made in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Business earlier this week, coincides with mounting local, regional and international concern over global food and drugs manufacturing practices that are widely felt to be putting the safety and health of consumers at serious risk. National monitoring standards have also assumed increased importance in the light of what Stabroek Business understands is a thriving trade in expired goods between operators in Miami and some local distributors.
Registration procedures for importers of foods into Guyana require them to present to the Food and Drug Department premises on which the imported foods can be stored in such a manner as to ensure “that the integrity of the foods will not be compromised.” Part of the registration requirement also requires the importer to place the Food and Drug Department in a position to examine labels and to submit to the department certificates of quality from the countries of origin and licences issued to the manufacturer in the country of origin.
A source in the local distribution trade has told Stabroek Business that Guyana is even more vulnerable to unmonitored food imports than the Food and Drug Department suspects. According to the source “the extent of the problem is probably magnified at least threefold when one considers the high volume of goods that are smuggled into the country and the fact that even at the legitimate ports of entry the Customs and Trade Administration does not really pay attention to issues that have a bearing on safety and health-related inspection issues.”
Strengthening the monitoring capacity of the Food and Drug Department to cope with the sustained increase in imported consumer goods and the traffic in illegal imports across the country’s borders has been, for several years, an enduring concern of the Food and Drug Department. More recently, Ms. Collins has referred to “issues” that have impacted negatively on the level of cooperation which the Department has received from the Customs and Trade Administration in supporting efforts to monitor the movement of food and drugs through legal ports of entry.
Earlier this week Ms. Collins told Stabroek Business that it appeared that the Customs and Trade Administration may now be more disposed to supporting the Food and Drug Department in its work. She said that Customs had previously advanced the argument that it was constrained by regulations that rendered that body vulnerable to legal proceedings by importers if goods imported into the country were not released within a particular time frame. “Our own position which is based on the law governing the Department is that if we take a sample of imported food, the Comptroller of Customs should not release the product unless we issue a certificate of analysis”.
Meanwhile Ms. Collins told Stabroek Business that weakness in existing legislation governing the importing of foods into Guyana presents additional challenges for the Food & Drug Department. She said that the law is deficient insofar as it does not make it an offence to import foods without the necessary certification from the Food and Drugs Department. “We have been seeking an amendment to the law to close that loophole for several years. A draft document has been developed but it has not moved beyond that stage.”
Meanwhile, according to Ms. Collins the Ministry of Health has moved to enact a Public Health Act which will include provisions designed to enhance the effectiveness of the Food and Drugs Department. “All of the sections in the current Food and Drugs Act that are relevant to food quality and safety will be rescinded or repealed from that Act and placed in the new legislation.
A breakthrough in relations between the Customs and Trade Administration and the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department could significantly reduce the incidence of evasion of health and safety inspection by official importers. Collins told Stabroek Business that she expected to meet Customs officials soon to discuss what she believes could be a more constructive relationship between the two agencies.
Meanwhile Collins told Stabroek Business that the Department is still working to install its laboratory testing facilities which were dismantled when the it was resited to the building housing the Institute of Applied Science and Technology at the University of Guyana campus. She explained that the process of setting up the laboratory facilities would involve the recalibrating of testing instruments which would necessitate technical assistance from Trinidad and Tobago.
