Traders still tampering with product expiry dates—MBS
Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) officials are pointing out that there are still a lot of business entities and individuals who are endangering lives of Malawians by selling expired goods.
According to MBS Director General, Symon Mandala, the organisation has on numerous occasions caught some business operators in the act of changing their products’ shelf life dates.
“Some goods are not even properly labeled, shelf life erased, and some of the culprits are shops that we believe in,” he said.
He further cited a case in which some businesspersons changed expiry date from as early as 2016 to a later date in 2022, an act that he says can make some products become poisonous.
“It is a challenge that we are dealing with, we want to assure the general public that we are going to deal with this malpractice because it is unfair to the consumers to be falsifying information,” Mandala added.
Mandala disclosed this in Blantyre on Friday during commemorations for this year’s World Standards Day, held under the theme ‘Video Standards Create a Global stage’.
He says they have already penalised some traders and are currently exploring ways of punishing and exposing the elusive ones.
MBS has further advised consumers to be checking properly information that is printed on products before making a purchase.
This year’s World Standards Day focused on improving the standards of videos to suit the international standards.
Commenting on this year’s theme, Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority’s Digital Migration Manager, Zadziko Mankhambo said the country is doing well in catching up with the digital transition.
The World Standard Day focuses on raising awareness among regulators and consumers on the importance of standardization to the global economy.
Mathews Kasanda is a journalist who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Malawi (The Polytechnic).
In 2015, Media Institute of Southern Africa awarded him the Best Print Media Education Journalist of the Year accolade.
He joined Times Group Newsroom in September 2019.
