THE public has been advised to examine goods before purchase to ensure that they meet prescribed standards, noting some unscrupulous traders fraudulently change expiration dates.
The advice was given here over the weekend by the Tanzania Bureau of Standard (TBS) Acting Central Zone Manager, Ms Salome Emmanuel shortly after disposing substandard cosmetics and food items, worth over 10m/-. Ms Emmanuel said the goods were recalled from the market in Singida and Dodoma regions during inspection in October last year.
“We call upon the public to be extra careful when looking at the expiry date of any products since the business operators have come up with a new move where they stamp fake dates so that they stay in the market but you can easily spot the difference,” she said.
She mentioned some of the items disposed as chocolates, infants’ milk powder, soaps, lotion among others. Ms Emmanuel said they will be carrying regular inspections as she cautioned business operators to sell goods that have been certified by TBS standard mark.
“We’ll impose fines on any substandard goods as per our rules and regulations as well as disposing them for the sake of public health,” she insisted.
The zonal manager said the disposed goods were from more than ten business operators, most of them the retailers.
She, thus, warned the retail traders to be careful when purchasing goods from wholesale suppliers. She said they will heighten inspection at borders and ports to ensure that all imported goods meet the criteria set by the TBS.
