Stronger defences needed against substandard food, drug imports

Last week the Government Analyst-Food and Drugs Department (GAFDD) announced that yet another consignment of expired foods had found its way into Guyana and that some of it had breached the official monitoring systems that ought to be afforded by the Customs and Trade Administration and by now, have almost certainly found their way onto the local market.

These revelations, unfortunately, no longer trigger even the slightest signs of popular alarm never mind the fact that a point has long been reached where foods scientifically determined to be likely to prove harmful to consumers routinely find their way into our distribution system. Issues like expiry dates, which are among the easiest ways of checking on the wholesomeness or otherwise of foods, are not a particularly ‘big deal’ with some local consumers even though it has to be said that the expired foods ‘industry’ has long pressed into service technology capable of removing and replacing expiry dates. Setting that aside, these days, the driving force behind purchasing choices amongst a whole swathe of consumers is price rather than considerations of wholesomeness so that there is actually a considerable demand for expired products among consumers with an eye for what we loosely describe as ‘a bargain’. The upshot of this circumstance, of course, includes the considerable likelihood that ailments and perhaps even fatalities linked to expired/contaminated items frequently go undetected in the routine course of things.

In the instance of last week’s disclosure three things are significant. The first is the apparent belief on the part of the GAFDD that the perpetrator is a frequent offender who, for some illexplained reason has, it seems, apparently been able to evade official sanction. The second is the suggestion in the GAFDD’s media release that the process of ‘preparing’ the current consignment of “substandard” food items for shipment to Guyana was undertaken with the ‘clearance’ of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), a shocking revelation (assuming, of course, that it is verified) given what we are told are the high levels of vigilance and inspection procedures associated with safe food management systems in that country. The third matter of significance is the very open disclosure by the GAFDD that two of the containers out of the consignment in question were released from the Port of Entry without its “consent or approval,” which, again assuming that this is true, is an anomaly that warrants checking. One assumes, of course, that the Customs and Trade Administration would have been the only other agency empowered to enable such a release.

No one, not least the GAFDD, can be certain about the extent to which substandard foods are imported into the country. However, as has already been mentioned, given the sophisticated mechanisms - not least those that have to do with ‘doctoring expiry dates - associated with ‘prepping’ these goods for export, it is altogether reasonable to believe that our ports of entry are vulnerable not just because of our significant detection deficiencies but because of the longstanding “consent and approval” issues between Customs and the GAFDD that may have been responsible for the so far unexplained release of the two containers from the consignment in question.

The importer in this instance admits (or so it seems) to having had experiences with expired products in which instances, he is reported as saying, the expired goods were exchanged and disposed of. This, of course, does not explain how he came by those goods in the first place.

It stands to reason that operators in the substandard foods sector do not work alone. Huge containers cannot be routinely sneaked into the country past the Customs Administration’s detection and inspection systems without the racket being disrupted. It is therefore not unreasonable to assume that the state-run detection system continues to be compromised and that, setting aside the historic weaknesses of the GAFDD, illegal imports – not just foods but medication as well – continue to be driven by rackets at official ports of entry and perhaps even at other levels, so that the offenders are wellsupported in their illegal and harmful pursuits.

The problem here, of course, is that whenever occurrences like those of last week are unearthed the GAFDD finds itself on a hiding to nowhere, exposed to taking the ‘flak’ for what its critics say are a lack of adequate monitoring and corrective mechanisms. Never mind the fact that for, years, the magnitude and seriousness of the problem has not resulted in the Department being able to secure the requisite corrective/upgrading measures for which it has been pleading. In this most recent instance, for example, the GAFDD says that its hunt for the ‘missing’ two containers will have to be undertaken

by carrying out inspections at retail premises throughout the country an undertaking which, given its limitations, can be equated with the mythical cleaning of the Augean Stables by Hercules, the fabled strongman of Greek mythology. Given the intricate network of ‘invisible’ retail outlets across communities in coastal Guyana and further afield there is every chance that with regard to making much headway with finding all or even most of the contents of the two missing containers, the GAFDD probably has a near impossible job on its hands.

With sub-standard and expired foods continuing to strengthen their grip on the global food distribution system (some on-line shopping sites are reportedly investing heavily in nearly expired food products and employing marketing strategies that target wholesalers and retailers in poor countries) Guyana, having for decades neglected to strengthen its defences against a proliferation of risky foods would appear to have no immediate-term option but to continue to be one of the soft targets for a global racket that has evolved into a multi-billion dollar business. The problem is that it does not appear that the level of diligence associated with the need to raise our game as far as keeping substandard foods out is concerned is matched by the evidence laid bare by reliable research done elsewhere that sub-standard food and drugs pose a threat to the health of populations in vulnerable countries like ours. Perhaps more to the point is the fact that the problem of the proliferation of expired/substandard foods is probably as much a function of corruption-driven irregularities involving officials whose job it is to ensure the robustness of those defences as it is a function of the need to remedy the GAFDD’s glaring weaknesses. That too is something that has to be seriously tackled if the problem is to be arrested.