Serious resource-related weaknesses in the monitoring and enforcement regimes at the Government Analyst Food and Drugs Department (GAFDD) may have opened the doors to concerted abuse of the laws governing the importation of foods, medicines and cosmetics into the country.
Director of the GAFDD Marlan Cole told Stabroek Business in an interview earlier this week that claims of harassment against the department being made by some importers were designed to place restraints on the efforts that were being made “in difficult circumstances” to protect Guyanese consumers from products of questionable value which, in some instances, can be dangerous to human health.
“What we are faced with in some instances is the systematic dumping of sub-standard products in our country because of the lack of tools to police and correct the situation. Importers continually claim ignorance of the law as justification for these acts,” Cole declared.
Stabroek Business sought the interview with the GAFDD Director following the appearance of an advertisement in the print media last weekend reminding food importers of the regulations and guidelines relating to the importation and distribution of “safe and wholesome foods.”
Cole told Stabroek Business that while the law dictates that food importers obtain a prior permit from the GAFDD it was not uncommon for some importers to seek to secure a permit only after their imports have landed in Guyana. The cost of an annual import permit, which is obtainable at the GAFDD has recently been increased from $5,000 to $20,000, a ridiculously small sum, Cole says, for businesses that import up to 5,000 containers annually.
Cole told Stabroek Business that import regulations are flouted in various other ways including the failure by importers to have their imported food items accompanied by free sale or export health certificates, certificates of analysis and commercial invoices.
Meanwhile, it is widely believed that items of foods including an assortment of milk products and infant formulas not cleared by the GAFDD for sale here may have found their way onto the local market. The GAFDD Director told Stabroek Business that the landing in Guyana of containers of product not satisfying the requirements for importation as milk had become a common occurrence. “The issue of sub-standard milk products comes up every day. At least twice a month, these days, we have a bogus milk issue,” he stated.
Cole said there is reason to be concerned “even if and when importers satisfy the requirements for importing food items into Guyana.” He said that while the regulations require importers to have bonds that are adequately lit and ventilated and that food products be stored at least 18 inches away from walls and at least 6 inches off the ground there were several instances where the GAFDD had found importers to be non-compliant in this regard. “In fact we have found cases in which some importers have no storage bonds at all. When we have queried this we are sometimes told by the importers that they sell their consignments directly from the containers in which they are imported,” Cole said.
Importers, according to the GAFDD, are also delinquent insofar as they possess no sanitation, pest control and distribution records. “Distribution records,” Cole said, “are particularly important in cases where the need might arise to recall foods that might be considered unwholesome for one reason or another.” And while the regulations dictate that information pertaining to food imports, including labelling must be in English it was not uncommon for important documents to be tendered in other languages.
Lack of monitoring at the ports and post-importation inspection arising out of a lack of resources have been ongoing challenges for the GAFDD and Cole said slippage is likely to continue if the challenge of a lack of resources persists. He explained that the department’s five food inspectors have responsibility for monitoring both imports and exports to ensure compliance with the regulations. In the case of drugs there are only three inspectors. “We should be bearing in mind that we are talking about monitoring across the country. Food and drugs are multi-billion-dollar industries,” Cole said.
