Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) have expressed happiness regarding the enhancement in the levels of product compliance to standards on imported foodstuffs, reports pan African Radio Journalist Hermit Hachilonde.
The Zambia Bureau of Standards Head of Marketing & Public Relations Hazel Zulu said the improvement was noted in the month of August 2016 after conducting the market surveillances and inspections on various imported products that fall under mandatory standards.
She said statistics indicates that in August this year, over 190 samples were received from the border offices and submitted to ZABS head office’s testing laboratories.
Ms. Zulu also noted that by the end of August, 68 product sample results were received and over 40 of those results were compliant to the applicable standards representing 60.2% compliance levels.
“We are pleased to note that the results available showed that 60.2% of the sampled products were compliant to Zambian standards.”
“The product samples that were received from the borders include, fertilizer, food stuffs, chemicals and electrical products and others include condoms and batteries”
“It should be noted that those products that did not meet the applicable standards were seized and withdrawn from the market in accordance with the standards act to ensure the safety of consumers.
“We would like to reiterate our call to importers of various products to cooperate with the ZABS officers at the borders to allow for product sampling and testing in order to ascertain the safety and quality of the products imported into the country” ms. Zulu said
