The Government Analyst–Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) is advising against the sale and purchase of misleading brands of evaporated milk and evaporated filled milk in circulation locally.
The agency disclosed on Thursday that it recently seized and removed from premises 909 cans of evaporated filled milk with deceptive labels, while 16,326 cans were seized and left on premises.
In addition, it said a container of Global-brand evaporated filled milk was recently refused entry at the John Fernandes Limited Terminal Wharf because the labels were deceptive.
“The members of the National Food Safety and Control Committees from the all regions in Guyana were briefed on this issue and were advised to take the necessary action against the deceptive products,” it said in a press statement, while urging that all importers and distributors deceptively labelled milk and surrender it for destruction.
Some of the brands seized are: Promex Milko Evaporated Filled Milk; Tinny Evaporated Filled Milk; Rosa Evaporated Filled Milk; G.I.V Evaporated Filled Milk; Grace Evaporated Filled Milk; Big J Evaporated Filled Milk; and Red and White Evaporated Milk.
According to the GA-FDD, evaporated milk is a milk or milk product that is constituted from animal source from which 60% of water has been evaporated, and contains not less than 25 % of milk solids and 7.5 % milk fat and may carry a pictorial representation of a cow. Evaporated filled milk is a prepared blend of skimmed milk, vegetable oil, stabilisers and vitamins and its label cannot depict a pictorial representation of a cow and must carry a disclaimer “Not suitable for Children under 2 years.” The agency explained that such a declaimer is necessary because the digestive system of children is not sufficiently developed to process its content and it said this amounts to a very serious public health issue. It noted that in some cases, the content of milk fat declared on the label of the seized milk was only three 3% and there was no disclaimer and a pictorial representation of a cow.
Under the Food and Drug Act, it is an offence to labels or package food in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive.
For additional information, the agency can be contacted at telephone numbers 222-8859, 222-8857 or 222-8856.
