Labels tampered, sale of diabetic food supplement frozen

Rasika Somarathna

Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) officials yesterday froze sales of a powdered food supplement for diabetics, after they found altered labels on packs to show an extended expiry date.

CAA officers found the packs with forged labels when they raided a warehouse at Spencer Street, Colombo 12, Cooperative and Internal Trade Ministry sources said.

Officers found 1,000 (200 grams each) packs from the location which were ready to be distributed among retail outlets.

The labels on the packs of the food supplement which had a retail price of Rs. 300 had been altered to show an extended expiry date of one year beyond the original date, a ministry spokesman said.

The officers had also found that the raw material used to produce the food supplement too were outdated when they inspected the production facility of the food supplement producers.

A ministry spokesman said the existence of the substandard food supplement was first detected by officers when they found such packs at several retail outlets in the Jaffna peninsula last Friday.

"Later, on the instructions of Cooperatives and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando said the main production and distribution facility in Colombo was raided," he added.

Sources said this product is mainly sold in pharmacies and other retail outlets in the Jaffna peninsula and Wellawatte area in Colombo.

Minister Fernando instructed CAA officials to initiate legal action against the producer, according to the ministry spokesman.