SUNDAY NEWS Reporter, 7th November 2009 @ 22:00, Total Comments: 2, Hits: 490
ON a shelf at a popular supermarket in downtown Dar es Salaam are placed bottles of a product marked by just one word ‘shampooing’.
The other words are in French. Other products lined up in the shelf are big bottles filled with about a litre of some liquid in different colours, including pink, orange, purple, red, green and cream.
It is a typical example of items of all sorts found in the country’s supermarkets and other trading outlets that are inappropriately labelled or labelled in languages that the local people cannot understand.
Under international rules governing product labelling, manufacturers or exporters should write down specific details in a number of languages. It must show what the product is and where and how it will be used by the consumer or customer.
Buyers must know the ingredients of the product they want to shop. Keen shoppers are particular about this requirement although others could be attracted by the size and volume of the product and its corresponding price, which would be deemed cheaper compared with other like but properly labelled products.
A recent 'Sunday News' survey in Dar es Salaam has revealed the existence of many products being sold in the supermarkets that are wholly marked in such languages as French and Chinese, which the local people cannot understand.
It is impossible for them to fully grasp the correct use of the products, the address of its manufacturer and the expiry date. As one example, the word "Shampooing" followed by other words "Dčvouče Senteur Exotique" appear on a product believed to be hair shampoo.
Attendants at one supermarket wore a bemused look when a 'Sunday News' reporter bought a bottle of the poorly described product. Another product seen at the supermarket, in powdery form resembling cassava flour, was wrapped in a soft plastic bag weighing 160 grams.
At least the weight was the only description that could be understood as all other details are in Chinese. This writer found on another shelf a product labelled ‘Dallas Aqueous Cream’ recommended for all types of skin on its cover, showing a lady with a soft skin.
This product’s main panel lacks all other crucial consumer information, with incomplete postal address P.O. Box 60438, Phoenix.
There is no mention of the country of origin. The list of such vaguely described products is endless. They range from food, drugs, cosmetics, home utensils and electronics.
A number of consumers interviewed by this newspaper fear or suspect that most of these products are counterfeits or substandard.
Others believe they could have expired a long time ago and unscrupulous manufacturers and their local agents are taking advantage of lack of knowledge of some international languages to dump their products.
The Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) have always recommended Kiswahili or English or both for product description.
In case a product should use a foreign language not being widely spoken in the country, like French, Chinese or German, there should be a Kiswahili or English translation for it.
These requirements are set to enable local customers understand the product in terms of content, ingredients, shelf life, and side effects.
Basic standard product requirements include the brand name, the common name of the product, the net contents in terms of weight, volume of number describing the product.
In case of imitated or substituted food items, the manufacturer is required to write the words ‘imitated’ or ‘substituted’ immediately adjacent or before common name.
Other requirements include batch or lot number, the date of manufacture and the expiry date as well as a declaration of permitted food colour or preservatives in foodstuffs.
Tax evasion related to counterfeits and substandard goods costs the government between 540 and 900 billion/- per year, according to a recent Tanzania Confederation of Industries (CTI) study.
TFDA Public Relations Officer Gaudensia Simwanza said such goods entered the country illegally through collusion by a chain of crooked manufacturers, distributors, and traders, retailers and wholesalers.
She said some of the goods enter the country through ‘panya’ routes while others are manufactured locally. A Dar es Salaam resident, Mr Bakari Mlacha, has blamed local product quality watchdogs for the importation of such suspicious products.
“I wonder how such products make their way to the local market, if the Customs officials, the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) and TFDA were doing their job properly,’’ he said.
Total Comments on the above stories (2)
Comment
A very well written article! I hope this will make the authority wake up NOW!!!!!
Comment
This is not a survey in whatever sense. Most journalists and newspaper prefer to use 'survey or a cross-section of society' and yet they seem to know nothing about these words! Journalists need to be taught how to conduct survey relating to media work!
In journalism, survey is a scientific way of collecting information and it has several steps to follow which ultimately authenticate the final report. Wake up fourt estate!
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