Consumer alert: Foreign-labelled cooking oil illegally imported from Brazil

The Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) on Tuesday said there is a proliferation of foreign-labelled cooking oil on the local market.
The bottles are branded Vila Velha and Soya, and these products, labelled wholly in Portuguese, are suspected to be illegally imported from Brazil.
This is in contravention to the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations, the GA-FDD has warned.
According to the Food and Drugs Regulation 18 part 15, the declarations required by paragraph (2) shall be made in English. Except where a label is applied to a package of food in a country the official language of which is not English, the declarations so required shall appear in English on any panel except the bottom of the package.
According to the GA-FDD, its members on the National Food Safety and Control Committee have commenced surveillance and enforcement activities against these and other non-conforming products.
“The public is hereby advised to inspect all products upon purchasing, and only purchase products that are in compliance with the Laws of Guyana. Consumers, please engage the Environmental Health Department in your neighbourhood or the GA-FDD to report any substandard food seen on our local market, or offered for sale by vendors.
“The GA-FDD can be contacted on 222-8857(9), or visit our Facebook page at Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department,” the GA-FDD said on Tuesday.