The release by the local Customs Administration of two containers of what is believed to be “substandard” foods to an ‘importer’ who is set to face the courts on related charges, without the consent of the Government Analyst-Food and Drugs Department (GAFDD) represents a sharp departure from an existing agreement between the two agencies, GAFDD Director Marlan Cole has told the Stabroek Business.
And even as the Department seeks to track down the contents of the two containers which it says may already have been released into the local retail system, Cole told this newspaper that his Department will be communicating with the Customs authorities regarding the unauthorized release of the two containers.
Cole’s comment was made after the persistence of a considerably under-resourced GAFDD led recently to the unearthing of four containers of expired assorted food items consigned to a Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara addressee.