Africa-Press – South-Sudan. South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS) has ordered the return of six trucks carrying 3,840 bags of white sorghum back to Tanzania after the consignment was deemed unfit for human consumption upon arrival at the Nimule entry point.
The shipment, which was imported for humanitarian purposes, underwent mandatory inspection and testing upon arrival on Saturday.
Laboratory analysis revealed that the sorghum failed to meet national safety and quality standards due to physical damage, contamination with foreign matter, and poor overall condition.
In line with its mandate to protect public health and ensure product quality, SSNBS carried out comprehensive conformity assessments and destination inspections.
The agency said it acted swiftly to prevent the substandard grains from entering the local market.
Ashgan Paulina Edward, the Acting Director General for Technical Operations at SSNBS, who oversees testing, certification, standard development, and quality assurance, provided further details on the incident.
“The Nimule station detected trucks coming from Tanzania, holding 3,840 packs of white sorghum, which discovered it’s not fit for human consumption,” he narrated.
“The truck is coming for humanitarian aid, and the inspection revealed that the consignment has impurity, and then have like foreign matter plus insects, like the consignment is totally damaged.”
The incident was reported days after SSNBS intercepted and dumped four tons of yellow peas and maize grains attempting to enter South Sudan through the Nimule border point after the consignment failed mandatory safety and quality checks.
Ms. Edward narrated that the consignment entered Nimule on March 21 when they discovered that it was of poor quality. She said the SSNBS attempted to resort it but found out the consignment was totally damaged.
“Therefore, we told them that there is no way either to export it to the country of origin or to dump it in Nimule. And they went with the first option, whereby we supposed to export it to the country of origin.”
“So, we sent the trucks back. And this is one of our efforts to make sure that which is coming to South Sudan is meeting the standard specification and the quality requirement. So, this act based on the EAC standard.”
The incident highlights strict quality control at border points, especially for food aid and humanitarian consignments intended for vulnerable communities.
Previously, the regulatory body raised alarm over the safety standard of some Ugandan imports – impounding tones of goods over the presence of dangerous chemicals.
On January 14, 2024, Uganda and South Sudan bureau of standards resolved to jointly clamp down on cross-border trade in counterfeit goods by ensuring better standard and quality of their respective exports.
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