The Head of the Government Analyst Department, Marlan Cole said on Friday that it is not possible for his department to verify the authenticity of documents from foreign authorities by making contact with them each time a container arrives.
However, he said that the certification documents of each authority bears certain indicators which the Department is familiar with, and checks for.
This matter continues to be of public importance as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently said that a dubious certificate which accompanied a recent shipment from Canada had not been issued by it. That shipment was imported by Faizal Asif Iqbal Alli and contained food items which the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) said were substandard.