Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has called for “better judgment” to be exercised when consumers are shopping for certain items, particularly canned milk and locally packaged milk powder.
Retailers across the country and vendors are selling the items without proper labels and in the case of packaged milk without adhering to the rules, Ramsammy said on Saturday.
He warned that people should not purchase any of the items if they are not properly labelled and are in plastic bags.
The Minister pointed out that the canned tins of milk should state clearly on the labels what the product is; who is the local distributor and where it is manufactured. He said that the locally packaged milk should have labels saying what it is and should be packaged in a manner that does not expose it to light.
“There is no way we can track down something when it has no labels…this could be mixed with milk powder and other things”, Ramsammy said at a press conference while holding up a plastic bag of locally packaged milk powder.
He stressed that the Ministry has strongly discouraged such practices and has been meeting with retailers and vendors to sensitize them on the laws.
But while many have not been adhering to the laws, he said the Ministry has no intentions of pulling items off the shelves and taking, “bread out of people’s mouths”. He observed that for many market vendors that business is all that they have.
The Ministry will continue to work with them and encourage them to follow the rules, he said, noting that sensitization sessions are conducted monthly. He stressed that consumers need to be part of enforcement saying that if people are aware of what to look for, then retailers would have to comply with the rules.
“All that we are saying is package the goods properly and let the labels state the necessary information clearly”, Ramsammy added.
