— director laments political interference

By Svetlana Marshall
THE Government Analyst – Food and Drug Department (GA – FDD) is plagued with many problems ranging from insufficient resources to political interference, according to the Director Marlan Cole. In a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Cole contended that the department, which falls under the Public Health Ministry, is unable to effectively execute its mandate because of the lack of food and drug inspectors coupled with poor remuneration.
It was pointed out that while there are approximately 600 food importers, the national regulatory authority has only six food inspectors and three drug inspectors.
“Drug is [sic] a billion-dollar industry in Guyana, and in our country [we have] only three drug inspectors. How three drug inspectors will inspect all of these bonds, all of these pharmacies, all these hospitals both public and private and ensure that we have safe drugs on the market?”
“It is difficult, it is impossible,” the GA – FDD Director said.
Cole said for the department to effectively execute its function, it would need 24 inspectors: a batch of 10 food inspectors with two seniors, and a batch of 10 drug inspectors with two seniors.
Compounding the situation, Cole said, is the growing amount of counterfeit products on the local market. In order to bring some semblance of order in the local market, GA – FDD, he said accepts the Free Sale or Health Certificate from the country of origin, but this too is faced with stumbling blocks.
“This Free Sale Certificate attests to the fact that the product is good, is manufactured under sanitary conditions and is assented to by a department like ours and says this is good,” the director explained.
The issuing or acceptance of the Free Sale or Health Certificate is in keeping with the statutory requirements as stated in the Laws of Guyana, Food and Drug Act chapter 34:03 section (32) ii and the Food and Drug Regulation Number 13.
These requirements are also in keeping the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s 1985 ruling on sanitary and phytosanitary measures to protect consumers from substandard items of foods traded across borders.

DISREGARD
However, Cole is reporting that many importers disregard this legal requirement and even turn to politicians to bypass the system.
“In a synopsis they are going to politicians to circumvent this thing,” he said, while noting that importers ought to remember that the requirement is in keeping with the Laws of Guyana and the World Trade Organisation.
“If we get that document for every shipment that comes to Guyana, we will have some amount of guarantee that products coming from Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Turkey are safe,” the GA – FDD Director explained.
He said according to the rules of the World Trade Organisation, monitoring agencies such as GA – FDD can also visit the countries of origin to determine if their food products are safe for consumption.
“According to the World Trade Organisation’s rule, before that sardine reaches to Guyana, we could demand that our inspectors leave Guyana with the support of the exporter or the importer and go to Thailand and inspect the factory, inspect the records, visit the regulatory agencies to ensure that in truth and in fact it is sardine [that] is [sic] being placed in the tins before being shipped to Guyana, we can demand that,” he explained.

20 YEARS AGO
The last time Guyana reportedly made such a request was approximately 20 years ago. However, recently Guyana was subject to one such inspection after Sterling Products Limited had indicated its intention to ship ice cream to Barbados.
“Barbados inspectors came to Guyana, inspected Sterling’s premises, and inspected the Food and Drug Department to ensure that the records correlate before Sterling could have shipped one batch of ice cream to Barbados. It took them two years but in Guyana, contrary to all of this, people does just wake up and decide, you know what, ochro in tins gon sell in Guyana and are being sold in Singapore, I will ship it to Guyana.”
In a recent statement, the GA – FDD reminded importers that it would accept only original copies of documents for processing, and letters of commitment for future shipments (waivers) will no longer be accommodated or be used to facilitate items of foods to be released on the local market.
The department stated that it will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that foods imported into Guyana are accompanied with the requisite documentation, according to the Laws of Guyana, and to ensure that consumers are protected from substandard food traded on the global market.