Expired food products sold at Zanzibar markets, Reps told

By The guardian reporter

Zanzibar Minister for Health has said there are some expired products sold at markets. Juma Duni Haji said this on Wednesday when responding to a question from one of the representatives, Mwanaidi Kassim Mussa (Special Seats), during the ongoing House of Representatives meeting.

He said the Zanzibar Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics Board had seized some of the expired products sold at different markets in the Isles.

He said this year alone, a total of 24.4 tonnes of millet, one tonne of rice and three tonnes of children’s powdered milk and some litres of Super Sun Oil were seized.

He said the products were seized starting July, last year, to June, this year, and were destroyed because they were not fit for human consumption.

The minister said there were some dishonest traders who imported expired products and sold them without considering health effects on consumers.

He said to curb the situation the board had been mounting special operations at the markets to check the sale of expired goods in line with the 2007 legislation, which protected consumers.

Earlier, the representative wanted to know the measures the government had been taking to deal with dishonest traders who continued selling expired products and putting consumers’ health in danger.