The Government Analyst Food and Drug Department yesterday issued a stern warning to fast food outlets to desist from importing products which are expired or have very little shelf life remaining.
In a press release sent out yesterday, the department made its position clear and stressed that it will no longer be facilitating the separation of expired products from shipments. It stopped short of naming the guilty businesses.
“The Government Analyst Food and Drug Department is strongly advising importers of food, particularly those who import foods for further processing and/or for use in the fast food industry, to ensure they are not expired and have at least 75% of their shelf life remaining at the time of shipment,” the release said.
It stated that the department has been frequently intercepting containers with some items already expired, while others had only a few days of shelf life remaining. “In one such instance, a container arrived in Guyana on the 24th December, 2016 with one item expired since the 2nd June 2016, and others on the 19th November and the 17th December, 2016. In addition, some of the items were going to be expired in January of 2017,” the release read.
It stated that the department is also advising procurement/purchasing and quality assurance personnel in those industries to ensure that only items of foods with acceptable expiration dates are ordered, shipped and/or received to be used for food processing.
According to the release, the department will no longer facilitate assortment (separation) exercises at any port of entry, neither in importers’ bonds nor in their warehouses. Further, it said that action will now be taken against importers who knowingly and deliberately perpetuate the practice of importing expired and/or short dated items. Such action will not be limited to refusal of entry only, but will include legal proceeding against perpetrators, the release added.
The department said it will continue to work in close collaboration with the Guyana Revenue Authority (Customs Department) to ensure food inspectors have easy and regular access to documents, records and containers with food destined to be used in the food processing and/or the fast food industry.