The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has vowed to act against 45 non-compliant suppliers across the country.
This after the commission through its nationwide compliance and monitoring inspections discovered that the suppliers were selling expired and spoiled food items.
“During these inspections, the NCC discovered that some suppliers were selling expired and spoiled food items, including dairy products, meat products, maize meal, eggs, snacks, biscuits, and noodles.
In some cases, items had no expiry or best-before dates (date markings).
This violates Section 55(2) of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) which guarantees consumers the right to safe, usable, and good quality goods.
Date markings assist consumers in determining the shelf life and safety of the products before making any purchase,” said the commission spokesperson, Phetho Ntaba.
According to the NCC, some of the suppliers continue to sell products like wors, chicken pieces, and other foodstuffs without the proper labelling, which is a contravention of the law.
Furthermore, the commission also discovered that suppliers, especially in rural and peri–urban areas, displayed goods like noodles, sugar, soup and canned foods without any visible pricing, in violation of section 23(3) of the CPA.
The commission also expressed concern that consumers are not issued with documents of the goods that they purchased.
Another observation was a widespread disregard of section 26(2-3) wherein suppliers failed to issue complete sale records or receipts to consumers as per the CPA.
Suppliers of goods and services must issue sales records for every transaction made by consumers.
The sales record must include the supplier’s name and address, product description, quantity, price, and total amount paid by the consumer, including VAT,” explained Ntaba.
In response to these alarming findings, affected suppliers have been ordered to take immediate corrective action. This includes the removal and destruction of non-compliant goods, accurate product labelling in accordance with the CPA, visible pricing for all products, and the issuance of detailed sales records for every transaction.
The affected suppliers have been instructed to conduct corrective measures with immediate effect.
