F&DD warns against importation of expired food items

The Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (F&DD) has warned importers of food, particularly those who import foods for further processing and/or for use in the fast food industry, to ensure they are not expired and have at least 75 per cent of their shelf life at the time of shipment.

In a release to the media on Wednesday, the Department said it has been frequently intercepting containers with expired items, while others had only a few days shelf life remaining.

“In one such instance, a container arrived in Guyana on the 24 December 2016 with one item being expired since the 2nd June 2016 and others on the 19th November and the 17th December 2016. In addition, there were some items that were going to be expired in January of 2017,” the department said it its statement.

The department is also advising Procurement/Purchasing and Quality Assurance personnel in those industries to ensure that only items with acceptable expiration dates are ordered, shipped and/or received to be used for food processing for consumers.

“The Department will no longer facilitate assortment (separation) exercises at any port of entry, neither in importers’ bonds nor in their warehouses. Action will now be taken against importers who knowingly and deliberately perpetuate this practice of importing expired and/or short dated items”. It said such actions will not be limited to the refusal of entry only, but will also include legal proceeding against perpetrators.

The Department said it will continue to work in close collaboration with the Guyana Revenue Authority (Customs Department) to ensure food inspectors have easy and regular access to documents, records and containers with food destined to be used in the food processing and/or fast food industry.