TANZANIA – The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) in the Central Zone has impounded and destroyed various expired products including food worth more than 100m/- (USD 42,891).

TBS Inspector in the Central Zone, Domisiano Rutahala ordered business people to stop selling expired goods because they are detrimental to human health and the country’s economy.

“Some products may become toxic and when they are used after the expiration date can be a source of life-threatening diseases,” he said.

He added that the expired food products may lose some important nutrients when they are used after their expiration date.

According to Rutahala, the goods destroyed, a result of inspections carried out at various points between August of last year and this August, were impounded in all district councils in the Singida, Dodoma, and Tabora regions.

He stated that TBS will continue to conduct inspection in various parts of the country to uproot products that are of low quality and have exceeded their expiration date.

Mr. Rutahala said business people may incur huge losses when they continue dealing with expired and banned products in the domestic market. Apart from paying heavy fines, they are supposed to pay all costs to be used for destroying the impounded products.

Earlier in March, TBS impounded low quality food items in three western regions of Kigoma, Rukwa and Katavi worth US$ 41,905.

The operations uncovered that some business people were selling expired food unregistered by TBS.

The Acting TBS Western Zone Manager, Rodney Alanga, noted that some of the challenges faced during the operations were that most of business people dealt with smuggled goods, failure to inspect expiry dates and keeping records of the procurements.

The Bureau has continuously urged entrepreneurs to strive for quality goods by even setting aside a budget to train small scale entrepreneurs, and grant them certificates and licenses of using standards quality market, thus supporting the government’s quest to build an industrial economy.

In 2021/22, TBS set aside 256m/- (US$ 110506) for serving entrepreneurs countrywide, training and offering them licenses and certificates after meeting the required standards.

Through its Research and Training Section, TBS is engaged in imparting useful knowledge by providing short courses. Most of these courses  target specific clients in the area of standardization, safety and quality assurance, testing and metrology.

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