Ecowize calls for agency to monitor food imports

The call comes in the wake of radiation scares following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami last month.

Gareth Lloyd-Jones, MD at Ecowize, said the existing arrangement was such that it was up to the suppliers and retailers concerned to ensure that imported products were fit for human consumption.

Japan is faced with a high risk of radiation after the fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

"The effects of these contaminations on humans are dire in that they can result in compromised immune systems, diarrhoea and so on. We do import perishables and non-perishables from Japan," he said, adding that SA did not have proper mechanisms in place to guard against products that were of poor safety standards.

"The provisions of the Consumer Protection Act are only reactive, rather than proactive," Lloyd-Jones said. He urged South African consumers to ensure their safety by buying food only from legitimate South African food suppliers.

"South African food producers are required to show total compliance to legislation and retailer requirements through the maintenance of an International Organisation for Standardisation and other rating bodies, as well as being required to pass regular inspections from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries," he said.

Lloyd-Jones believed that importers should be subjected to the same set of stringent regulations that apply to the local supply chain.