MBS confiscates expired goods

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) on Friday evoked its authority by confiscating expired and substandard products from Innscor distributors in Blantyre.

The bureau had earlier received a tip that the distributors were hiding expired goods at Frontline Freight warehousing agents where they were also changing the expiry dates on the products before offering them for sale to the public.

MBS information officer Allen Kaombe said in an interview that the bureau has been running jingles and adverts on selected radio stations and newspapers calling upon the general public to provide them with information that would lead to the arrest of businesspersons dealing in expired and substandard goods.

“On Wednesday, we got a tip from someone informing us that Innscor distributors are keeping and selling expired goods. When we came, we discovered that the distributors were hiding about 10 tonnes of expired biscuits,” said Kaombe.

Happy Hour, Munchy, Funmix, Sugar Crackers, Shortea and Choc.o were some of the brands that MBS confiscated from Innscor on Friday.

The original dates on most cartons showed that the products lost their shelf life by December 2009.

But the distributors gave their products a new lease of shelf life by replacing the original dates with new ones.

Citing the MBS Act of 1972, Kaombe stated that the confiscated biscuits will be burnt while Innscor distributors will have to pay a penalty depending on the size of the products.

He asked the public to take part in ridding our markets of expired and substandard goods by providing them with information on culpable businesspersons.

“MBS doesn’t reveal names of our sources hence no need to fear to provide us with information that will lead to the confiscation of expired goods,” the information officer said.

On several trials, Innscor distributors did not pick their telephone on Friday while owners of the warehouse said they could not comment since they were only contracted to store.

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