NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 1612
DATE OF PUBLICATION: FRIDAY 17 JUNE 2011 [IQP No 17 -2011] SECOND SESSION,
FOURTH PARLIAMENT
Question 1612 for written reply, National Assembly: Mrs. S.V. Kalyan (DA)
to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries:
(1) Whether she has been informed of a complaint by a certain person
(name furnished) regarding artificial additives and dairy substitutes;
if so,
(2) whether she has launched an investigation into this complaint; if
not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1815E
REPLY:
1. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF)
regulates mainly the quality (grading) of Dairy products under the
Regulations relating to the Dairy and Imitation Dairy Products (R2580 and
R2581 of 20 November 1987, as amended) of the Agricultural Products
Standards Act, 1990. Regulation 2581 under regulation 4(7) prescribes
that "a primary dairy product may contain other foodstuffs and food
additives to the extent permissible under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and
Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972)". Food additives are
regulated under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act
54 of 1972) which is administered by the Department of Health. The
Department of Health promulgated the Food Labeling and Advertising
Regulations which were published in the Government Gazette No. R 146
of 01 March 2010. The implementation of Regulation 146 is 01 March
2012.
The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is informed of
the issues relating to the transgressions in terms of the Agricultural
Products Standards Act, 1990.
2. The issues raised by the complainant, have been under investigation
by the DAFF since January 2010 when his first complaint on the
misleading information in the selling of imitation cream to consumers with
labels on the products reflecting fresh cream. The misleading
information was on a number of confectionery products including but not
restricted to cakes and doughnuts. The DAFF initially scoped the
magnitude of the non compliance and in May 2010 concluded that this
matter was widespread and also involved the mandates of the Department of
Health. The DAFF met with the DoH in June 2010 and the DAFF committed
towards pursuing the misleading information case. In August 2010 the DAFF
issued a notice to retail sellers of imitation cream informing them of
the correct labeling requirements for the products. The notice also
informed these retailers that the DAFF inspectors will be monitoring
compliance. Since the issuance of the notice and follow up
inspections from the DAFF, there has been improvement in terms of
compliance. The DAFF continued with monitoring inspections. However the
DAFF still experienced some non compliance mainly in KwaZulu Natal
(KZN) and the DAFF responded to the non compliances. With certain stores
found to be consistently non compliant, the DAFF then had a meeting
with the South African Police Service (SAPS): Commercial Crime Unit
(CCU) in March 2011 to assess the possible way-forward for the
case. At this meeting it was agreed to deal with this matter as a âtestâ
case and further agreed on processes and procedures towards building
the case. The DAFF concluded on its investigations in April 2011 and
has submitted the samples emanating from the investigations for
testing. The first batch of results of the samples is available and
as soon as the entire tests are completed, the DAFF will submit the
complete investigation dossier to the SAPS CCU for further evaluation and
investigation.
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