Maravi

ZCC threatens to sue Spar over ‘unfit’ foods

ZCC threatens to sue Spar over ‘unfit’ foods
Written by Fridah Zinyama
Thursday, October 01, 2009 1:03:48 AM

ZAMBIA Competition Commission (ZCC) has threatened to take legal action against Spar Zambia if it continues to sell consumable products which have no expiry dates or are unfit for human consumption. The threat comes following a complaint from a consumer who purchased a packet of strawberries from Spar Arcades which were decaying at the bottom of the pack.

At a press briefing in Lusaka on Tuesday, ZCC public relations officer Vaida Bunda said the sale of any food products which were not fit for consumption was against the law.

Section 12 (e) Cap 417 of the Laws of Zambia states that “a person shall not supply any product which is likely to cause injury to health or physical harm to consumers, when properly used, or which does not comply with a consumer safety standard which has been prescribed under any law.”

Bunda said ZCC was mandated under Section 12 of the competition and fair trading Act, Cap 417 of the Laws of Zambia to protect consumers against unfair trading.

“We receive a number of complaints from time to time regarding various goods and services provided within Zambia which consumers are concerned with,” she said.

Bunda explained that after receiving the said complaint from the consumer, ZCC, in collaboration with the public health department of the Lusaka City Council, conducted an on the spot inspection as the public health Act, Cap 295 of the Laws of Zambia empowered the public health department to carry out such checks.

“We inspected Spar Arcades and Spar Downtown and found several food products that either had no expiry dates, were expired, improperly packaged, improperly labelled/branded or had foreign matter contrary to consumer product safety requirements,” she said. “We noted that in some instances, Spar Arcades had two expiry dates indicated on some products and we advised that this was wrong as it had the propensity to mislead consumers contrary to Section 12(d) of the Cap 417 of the Laws of Zambia which provides that ‘a person shall not engage in conduct that is likely to mislead the public as to the nature, price, availability, characteristics, suitability for a given purpose, quantity or quality of any products or services’.”

Bunda added that the inspection team further noted that the storage facilities for bread were not in a good state as debris was found on the bread stored in the shop.

“The products found wanting were seized and management at both branches was warned that the Commission would prosecute them should this practice continue,” she said.

Bunda warned businesses engaged in the habit of selling expired products or products that were likely to cause injury or harm to consumers to stop the practice immediately.

“ZCC has taken this inspection as a warning and if they fail to adhere to the warning, we will take legal action,” she said.

Bunda encouraged Zambian consumers to always be wary of expiry dates and ensure that they only purchased products that were fit for human consumption.

Labels: CONSUMERS, FOOD, SPAR ARCADES, ZCC

posted by MrK @ 12:04 AM