The Government Analyst-Food & Drug Department on Friday warned against the sale and purchasing of what it described as “misleading (deceptive) brands” of Evaporated Creamer, Royal Chef Sweetened Condensed Filled Milk and Lait Concentre’ Sucre that are being sold on the local market.
In a statement, the Department said that evaporated milk is milk, or milk product which is constituted from animal source from which 60 per cent of water has been evaporated, and contains not less than 25 per cent of milk solids and 7.5 per cent milk fat, and may carry a pictorial representation of a cow, while Evaporated Filled Milk is a prepared blend of skim milk, vegetable oil, stabilizers and vitamins.
The Food and Drug Department said that the label on the Evaporated Filled Milk cannot depict a pictorial representation of a Cow and must carry a declaimer “Not suitable for Children under 2 years”. “Such a declaimer is necessary because the digestive system of children is not sufficiently developed to process its content and this amount to a very serious public issue,” the statement said.
Some of the brands found on the local market were labeled Lait Concentre’ Sucre ‘’Condensed Milk’’, Royal Chef ‘’ Sweetened Condensed Filled Milk” and Evaporated Creamer.
The department called on all Importers and Distributors to recall deceptively labelled milk and to surrender same to the Department for destruction.
“It is a violation for milk products with replaced or modified fat which impacts on the character and composition of such products to be erroneously and frequently labeled as milk. Part II Section (1) Food and Drugs Act Cap. 34:03. The label of filled milk should not bear any graphics that will in any way indicate that the milk is from a dairy source or containing milk fat,” the Department said while advising consumers to read labels carefully to ensure that the replaced source (type) of fat is declared in the list of ingredients and the product should accordingly be labeled “Filled Milk”. The label should also carry the statement “Not Suitable For Infants”
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Department disclosed that it now has access to a Gas Chromatograph (GC) instrument where all milk imported into Guyana now will be sampled and analysed to determine the fatty acid profile.
The results of which will be use to ensure the label on the milk are not misleading or are purported to be of animal fat origin when it may be a mixture of animal and vegetable fat.
Members of the Nationals Food Safety and Control Committee across the country were briefed on the issue and were advised to take the necessary action against the deceptive products.
