The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) Market Surveillance team has seized a range of flavoured drinks from Mob Investment, the producers of Maisha Mango Juice, Kigezi Bushera, Real flavored Mango Drink, and Real Flavored Orange Drink from the manufacturer’s premises along Kamuli Road in Bweyogerere.
“The UNBS team inspected the manufacturer’s premises and discovered that the conditions under which the flavored drinks were being produced were unhygienic posing a health risk to consumers and were in complete violation of Uganda Standard (US) 28:2002 on code of practice for hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry,” the UNBS Deputy Executive Director in Charge of Compliance John Paul Musimami said, adding that the team acted on a tip-off from a concerned consumer.
According to Mr Musimami, such acts are criminal and endanger human health. “I would like to urge the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious elements,” he said, adding: “We shall continue to monitor the products on the market and confiscate such products from the market.’’
Meanwhile, the UNBS has confiscated 369 cartons of suspected expired confectioneries with altered expiry dates, worth Shs70 million.
The confectioneries were seized from a warehouse belonging to Luck Star Business Link in Ntinda Industrial area and the premises were sealed off, pending further investigations.
“UNBS market surveillance team seized the suspected expired confectioneries in line with our mandate to protect the public from consuming products that are likely to be harmful to their health,” Mr. Musimami said.
He added: “Besides having labels in a foreign language, which is not acceptable as per the Uganda Standard (US) EAS 38:2013 on labelling of pre-packaged foods, their products were also found with conflicting expiry dates, raising the suspicion of our market surveillance team about their actual shelf life of the products”.
He said the original expiry dates were removed using thinners and replaced with locally printed stickers, which is an offence under the UNBS Act.
“Our officials recovered locally printed stickers that were being used to re-label the packaging from the proprietor’s premises,” Mr. Musimami said.
He added: “Some other products had conflicting shelf lives. For instance, we found conflicting shelf lives of 12 months and 2 years on the same products.”
