The official distributor of Cadbury-Adams products in Guyana, Geddes Grant, yesterday declared that it never imported or distributed the batch of chocolates that was found to be tainted and several of which were found at a city store recently.
Checks on the batch numbers presented by the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department have revealed that the company never brought those products into the country, Navin Thakur, the Marketing Distributor of the company said. “Those products have not come from us and we want it to be absolutely clear that those products were not distributed by Geddes Grant”, he told Stabroek News.
On Monday the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department warned the public to refrain from purchasing or consuming Cadbury chocolate bars, specifically the fruit and nut and whole nut ones displaying the expiry date July 2009 and batch numbers L8017-DA1-17:22 and L8038DC1-14:25. In a statement, the Department said that those bars are being sold at extremely cheap prices to consumers by wholesalers and retailers nationwide. It noted that the Authority had seized a quantity of nine bars of fruit and nut 250g and 15 bars of whole nut 400g from Satro’s Supermarket, Croal Street, Stabroek, Georgetown. It advised wholesalers and retailers to recall these products.
The release had said that organoleptic tests revealed that these flavours were worm infested and tainted, which could have possibly resulted from substandard materials and/or improper storage. It advised that chocolate should be stored at the maximum temperature of four degrees Celsius throughout the useful shelf life of the product as depicted by its expiry date.
The Manager of Satro’s Supermarket, who requested anonymity, told Stabroek News yesterday that the chocolates were not on her shelf when officials from Food and Drug Department visited her store. She said that the chocolates had been removed and placed into a sealed box to be returned to the importer from whom she had purchased them.
Meantime, Thakur noted that there are others who import the same products but who do not necessarily meet the standards stipulated by the supplier such as having the expiry date of the product on that package. He pointed out that Geddes Grant has a contractual agreement with the United Kingdom based Cadbury-Adams to provide products to the Guyana market and in the contract there are certain requirements that have to be followed and adhered to. These include storing the products in-house in controlled temperatures. The Marketing Director said that the company has followed the instructions very clearly because they are aware that the product integrity needs to be maintained before they go out into the market.
He gave a tour of the cooled warehouse where the products are stored.
Thakur also urged customers –retailers, to purchase the product from Geddes Grant because they are the only authorized distributors of Cadbury products in Guyana and “we will certainly be adhering to all the requirements that are being stipulated to us by the supplier”.