The disclosure earlier this week by the Government Analyst-Food & Drugs Department (GAFDD) that four containers of “substandard” food items imported from Canada had been cleared for export by documentation purportedly issued by that country’s state-run Canadian Food Inspection Agency has been followed by a letter to the Agency by GAFDD Director Marlan Cole calling on it to exercise “greater regulatory oversight and /or scrutiny for items facilitated bearing your approval as wholeness from Canada to Guyana”.
The letter, a copy of which has been seen by this newspaper and which has also been copied to Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana Lilian Chatterjee asserts that “on the dates of October 2, September 18, 25 & 26, respectively, Free Sale/Health Certificate documents were signed by your department on behalf of Mr. Faizal Ali to ship four (4) containers bearing assorted items of Food to Guyana.” The letter goes on to state that the containers “were subjected to examination at the port of entry by Inspectors… and it was discovered that substandard items of food attested to by your department were in the container imported by Mr. Faizal Ali.”
