SA firm stands to lose millions
THE fate of 4 000 energy bars kept in quarantine at customs in the US formed the subject of an urgent application yesterday.
US customs officials wanted a certificate from the South African authorities that the health bars did not contain dairy products, and that they adhered to certain specifications before they would allow them into that country. If this certificate wasn’t forthcoming by March 5, US customs officials vowed to destroy them. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department was ordered by the court to do all it could to issue the certificate.
PVM Nutritional Sciences Ltd turned to the court to have these energy bars released through customs. It stated in court papers that it had a contract with a Luxembourg company to export a million energy bars a month to the US over the next 10 years. The deal is said to be worth more than R360 million.
The company shipped 4 000 sample bars to the US, to provide samples to prospective retailers and distributors. The US Department of Agriculture, however, has refused to allow the 4 000 bars to pass through customs as it needs certification of the manufacturing and the ingredients PVM used in their production. As a consequence, PVM and the South African department have become embroiled in a dispute, PVM managing director Alfred Rheeder said in an affidavit.
The department viewed the energy bars to be a dairy product in terms of relevant legislation, which Rheeder denied. He said his company was due to lose out on the contract if it was not able to provide the 4 000 sample bars for presentation.
In the case of the bars in question, PVM mixed pasteurised milk powder and pasteurised egg albumen, Rheeder said. The milk power is imported from Ireland and the egg albumen from France as the US market would not allow these ingredients in their products if they were made in South Africa.
The department said it refused to issue the certificate as the company had, by law, to involve the state vet in the process of manufacturing the bars before shipment to the US. As the bars were now abroad the vet could not certify them, it said. But the company said there was no dispute as to the nature of the product and how it was manufactured. It said it was clear that it was not a dairy product.
Judge Hans Fabricius ordered that the department issue the certificate and note on it that the milk powder originated from Ireland and the egg albumen from France, and that the egg albumen in the exported products was heated at a minimum of 62°C for 20 hours before exportation.