THE Government Analyst – Food and Drug Department is advising consumers against purchasing improperly packaged, unsealed and unlabelled foods, eg., flour, milk powder, powdered spices, seasonings and salts.

The Department has issued a release citing the Food and Drugs Regulations of 1977, Chapter 34:04, Section (18)(1), which warns: “No person shall sell a food unless a label is applied to the food in compliance with the following regulations:

(2)(a) On the main panel (iii) a correct declaration of the net contents in terms of the weight, volume or number, in accordance with the usual practice in describing the food.

(b) On any panel (i) a complete list of ingredients in descending order of the proportion or quantity of each ingredient is stated in terms of percentage

(ii) The name and address of the manufacturer of, or the person preparing, the food; and its country of preparation or origin.”

The advisory cautions that the absence of a label on the product clearly eliminates the UNKNOWN manufacturer or re-packager from any liability in the event that the food is found to be contaminated and/or hazardous.

Additionally, there is no guarantee that the premises where the product was manufactured or re-packaged was approved or inspected by the [Food and Drug] Department, or that the personnel handling the food are knowledgeable about the tenets of good manufacturing practices.

The Director of Food & Drug wishes to make it clear that: “A product that is re-packaged at the retail level is usually unsealed, and also stands a greater chance of becoming contaminated with physical and/or chemical matter, whether by deliberate means or accidentally.

Contaminants could include cleaning compounds, such as soap powder, insecticides, rodent droppings and/or airborne particles.

Moreover, the director warns, “The failure to ensure that the product is properly labelled could result in a mix-up of commodities at the time or purchase. For example, salt may be mistaken for white sugar, or Epsom salts for monosodium glutamate (Aji).

“Consumers who fail to heed the above advice run the risk of purchasing foods that may be adulterated, short weight, expired; and, more importantly, contaminated with disease-producing and spoilage micro-organisms as a result of poor hygiene practices during handling, preparing, packaging and storage of commodity.”

For further information, persons can contact the department on telephone numbers: 222-8857 or 222-8859