TSL Client Gets Commendation

By Rochelle Williams, TSL

The Guyana Analyst-Food and Drug Division (GA-FDD) has been commended for their action and vigilance in protecting the Guyanese industry and consumers from food fraud. This is subsequent to training and support received from Technological Solutions Limited’s  Mr. James Kerr and Dr. André Gordon, advising the Executive Director and the GA-FDD team on best practices in handling labeling, food fraud and other attempts to deceive the consumer and compete unfairly with established businesses.

In a press release dated March 26 2017, it was reported that Guyanese distributor of Brunswick® Tuna, Beepats, supported the government’s efforts to block deceptive products. Beepats thanked the government for exercising vigilance and taking swift action in identifying and blocking food products thought to be false,  misleading and deceptively labelled, from entering the country.

The media report noted that a joint effort between GA-FDD and the Guyana Customs and Trade Administration (GTA) prohibited the distribution of bogus canned tuna from China, which had non–compliant labels that closely resembled the label for Brunswick®  Flaked Tuna in Oil. This appeared to be an attempt to mislead the consumers into thinking that the product was a legitimate Brunswick® product.

The government advised the public to “take a second look” on their labels to ensure that the country of origin and name and address of the manufacturer were present on the products being purchased.

TSL was contracted to undertake a comprehensive audit and training program for GA-FDD from September 21 to October 1, 2015.  The extensive workshop prepared and delivered to selected employees of GA-FDD included:

• Introduction to HACCP and basic microbiology
• Certification Systems in the Food Industry
• Market requirements for products intended for certain markets
• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Pre-Requisite Programs (PRPs)
• Product development, packaging and labelling requirements for Canada, United States of America and Europe/United Kingdom.

In addition to the list of topics above, analysts were trained in theory of several chemical and microbiological analyses. Two sets of analysts were also flown to Jamaica in early 2016 to be trained at TSL’s Testing Laboratory in selected analyses which will be performed routinely at GA-FDD.

With the knowledge garnered from the training, representatives of the government were able to spot the irregularities of the fraudulent product and advise the nation of its presence in the  market