ZCC warns supermarkets against selling harmful products

ZCC warns supermarkets against selling harmful products
By Fridah Zinyama
Tue 03 Nov. 2009, 04:00 CAT

THE Zambia Competition Commission (ZCC) has warned all supermarkets in the country to desist from selling products that are harmful to health.

ZCC consumer and public relations director Brian Lingela stated that consumer protection in Zambia required concerted effort from all relevant authorities in the country. Lingela urged retailers to remove all expired products and products without expiry dates from their shelves as a matter of urgency before the law caught up with them.

“This is why we collaborated with Kitwe City Council (KCC), Ndola City Council (NDC) and Kabwe Municipal Council (KMC) which are mandated under the food and drugs Act 303 of the Laws of Zambia to enforce the prohibition of sale of foods or substances that are harmful to health,” he stated.

“For products that are about to expire, their prices must be reduced at least two weeks before the expiry date so that both businesses and consumers do not lose out. When such products are reduced, supermarkets are advised to place them in front to ensure visibility to consumers.”

Lingela further stated that the warning also applied to local business people selling in markets and tuntembas as they were not immune to the law.

“As Zambia strives to meet the Millennium Development Goal of attaining a healthy status for all citizens by 2015, we cannot afford to have Zambian consumers consume foods that are likely to cause injury to their health and contribute to an unhealthy nation,” he stated.

Lingela further advised all consumers in Zambia to exercise caution before they purchased any product especially food from any supermarket or shop.

“The public should ensure that they check when the product is expiring and even its quality before they make any purchases,” he stated.”As ZCC, we will continue collaborating with local authorities through out the country in ensuring that consumers are protected from unscrupulous business people whose only interest is to make profits.”

ZCC in collaboration with the three local authorities - KCC, NCC, and KMC - inspected Quicksave Supermarket, Panty Pride, Shoprite outlets, Bippo’s and Upper supermarkets.

“In these supermarkets, we found some food products that had expired, those without expiry dates and food products not labelled in Zambia’s official language - English,” Lingela stated.

“In other cases, we found that there was inadequate labelling thereby making it difficult for an ordinary consumer to know exactly what the product is.”