In the wake of the disclosure earlier this week that quantities of monosodium glutamate with the counterfeit brand ‘Ajinomoto’ had appeared on the local market, the Government Analyst Food and Drugs Department (GA-FDD) has told this newspaper that the inherent operational weaknesses of the department pose an ever present risk that counterfeited/fake foods could have easy passage into the country.
Stabroek Business yesterday confirmed that local company Continental Agencies Ltd had lodged a complaint with the GA-FDD regarding the importation of a fake product into the country branded ‘Ajinomoto’ and believed to be manufactured in Turkey. This newspaper has also seen a document sent to the GA-FDD by a Brazilian company styling itself Ajinomoto Do Brasil Industria E Commercio De Alimentos Ltda, claiming exclusive rights to all intellectual property related to the trademark Ajinomoto and alleging the copying and reproduction of the trademark “in packaging of pure monosodium glutamate.”
Earlier this week, the GA-FDD issued a statement alluding to a disclosure “that quantities of counterfeited Ajinomoto, had appeared on the local market,” and that the product was being traded “particularly in outlying in outlying areas.” The department also