By Nelson Kiva
Government standards watchdog, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) says is tightening food standards due to widespread risk caused by additives.
The cost of unsafe food according to the standards body is too huge to individuals and the economy.
The latest focus of tough regulation is food additives, which according to UNBS deputy executive director in charge of standards Patricia Ejalu are a high-risk area.
In a move to streamline additives standards, the body has since launched a drive to engage stakeholders.
“We have engaged producers and all the other people involved in the trade of food additives and we want them to know the required regulations. These particular items if misused can cause serious life challenges such as cancer in case consumed in unregulated amounts,” Ejalu said in an interview with New Vision.
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavour or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities.
Ejalu indicated that it was in their great interest as regulators to ensure that nobody misuses the products because the broader society is endangered.
“Therefore, we hosted these people to guide them. We have had these standards before, but there is some recent improvement which we wanted to bring to their notice and how best they can use them,” she said.
“As part of the way forward, we have guided them on how to get the standards which are available at UNBS.
We have guided them on how to get them online after payment other than getting from wherever they are to Kampala,” she added.
Labelling standards
UNBS also guided the group on labelling standards emphasising that all the necessary details such as the name, location, manufacturer and expiry duration should be visible on a product before product certification (Q-mark) is issued.
Some of the notable general food safety standards include; US 45: 2019, which is a general standard for food additives globally.
The safety standards also specify guidelines for the use of food additives and lists safety levels suitable for use in specific food products.
“We want these people to be able to communicate to the consumers the specific standard for food,” Ejalu said.
UNBS has since developed over 4,700 Uganda standards for food, which are paramount and important to consumers.
“And this is an area where we always make effort to inform people whenever changes are being made to allow the producers to prepare for the changes, but also protect the consumer, the people who just buy their drinks without any suspect reason,” she said.
Ejalu added that over 600 standards have since been harmonised with the East African Community standards as part of East African Standards Committee made up of the heads of the bureaus of standards and related regulatory institutions.
Widening campaign
The standards are adopted by the partner states for the last 10 years. Ejalu said they are widening the campaign to popularise the food safety standards among others, through rigorous media campaigns.
Q-Mark is a must
Senior UNBS certification officer Moses Matovu said whoever undermines the standards commits a crime.
“Whoever puts any food product on the market without a Q-mark, commits a crime because the trade minister pronounced that the food standards are mandatory and whoever violates them is arraigned in the industrial court where the presiding judges pronounces penalties accordingly after due litigation process,” he said.
The participants asked UNBS to conduct numerous sensitisation sessions on the standards to ensure that everybody in the country is aware to avert the related dangers.
