Are you aware of the manufactured date of what you consume?
When buying grocery and food items from a boutique or super market, consumers mainly check the expiry date, price, the contents, etc. But it is only a few who look at the manufactured date of the product.
The manufactured date plays an important role in the sustainability of a product. The expiry date depends on the date of manufacture.
Are the contents mentioned correct? Is the manufactured date and expiry date correct? Who looks into it? Are they being inspected regularly? These are some of the questions that may arise among the public when buying any food product but would not have considered it much.
When the Business Times discussed this matter with the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) and the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) certain issues were cleared.
It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to clearly and correctly mention the manufactured and expiry date and all other details in particular on the product itself. “The manufactured date and the expiry date of any food product have to be mentioned clearly and correctly by the manufacturer itself. It is the responsibility of the manufacturer,” CAA officials said. The Authority has the right to check all manufactured products which are not being inspected properly by the manufacturer and immediate action would be taken to verify any complaint that had been made against any product.
CAA officials said that regular inspections are made to verify the manufactured date, expiry date and the other contents of products.
Also the officials said that if a manufacturer fails to follow the rules and regulations, cash penalties would be imposed on the private business or company. For private businesses the penalty varies between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 10,000, but for companies it varies between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 100,000.
SLSI Director General and CEO, Dr. L.N. Senaweera said that depending on the type of the product the relevant authorities have to ensure that the requirements are properly indicated.
Soon after the SLS mark is granted to a product, the SLSI constantly inspects the product by getting samples from the market. When granting the SLS mark the label being marked has to be in line with the standard requirements. It is a requirement that an SLS certified company has to maintain the standards continuously. If companies fail to do so, serious action will be taken to withdraw the mark after an initial warning is made in the first case.
Under the Food Act it is mandatory to have certain markings on the label such as the trade name, date of manufacture, date of expiry etc so that the food authority can take legal action against it.
Elaborating on the measures taken in granting the SLS mark, Dr. Senaweera said, “Many procedures have to be taken to certify a product. We first visit the company and inspect the quality control practices, whether the company has qualified people and the required equipments, the type of tests being performed and whether the company maintains the same throughout.
After a detailed evaluation is made, mentioning the areas that need to be improved, a report will be prepared. Then we collect samples and test it at our recognized laboratories and see whether it confronts to the standards.”
“If the tests fail, several more tests are conducted until we are confident that the manufacturer is in a position to manufacture the product consistently conforming to the standards.
Two consecutive samples should conform to the standards. After evaluating on these factors we will grant the SLS certificate. After the SLS mark is granted we will look at every batch records whether they are maintained properly and take samples from the company and the market and ensure that it is in place in the right standard,” Dr. Senaweera added.
Speaking on the recent milk powder issue, Dr. Senaweera stressed, “About a month ago we granted the SLS mark for three milk powder products; Raththi, Maliban Fullcream and Nespray which have been standardized by the SLSI. We tested all three of them and no DCD was found in all three. We test a product mainly for quality parameters. DCD is not specified in the standardization list since it’s a new thing.”
The SLSI recently introduced new certifications for Information Technology certification – ISO 27000, Organic certification in line with the Sri Lanka Standards and Energy Management certification – ISO 51001.
For a company to be SLS certified, it has to pay an amount of money according to its annual income.
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