Mozambique’s Proconsumers identifies 47% non-fortified food products on the market

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Mozambique’s Proconsumers identifies 47% non-fortified food products on the market

12:34 CAT | 11 Dec 2017

TVM

In the nearly four hundred commercial establishments inspected by the Association for the Study of Consumer Defence, 36.4 of marketed products are fortified, 47.5 percent are not, and the remainder could not be determined.

The amount of non-fortified food products for sale in commercial establishments in the capital is troubling the Association for Study and Consumer Protection (GAIN), with corn singled out as one of the least-fortified foods.

Of the 408 commercial establishments, including 17 markets, ratios of more than 47 percent non-fortified products were found, this when the government has ruled that major consumer products such as sugar, corn, oil, salt must be nutrient-boosted, with non-compliance punishable by law.

GAIN Mozambique sees nutrition in Mozambique as the responsibility of society as a whole, hence the need for food quality groups and association activism. A Proconsumers website has also been launched.

Official launch of website and first Market Observatory for Fortified Foods

ProConsumers is an organisation focused on consumer protection and education in Mozambique, The results of the Market Observatory, as well as its website were presented last Thursday, December 7, in Maputo..

The Market Observatory aims to verify the influx of fortified products on the market, in order to draw conclusions about the main types of points of sale in which they are marketed, the level of demand for them, as well as possible constraints.

In turn, the webpage is a platform in which ProConsumers will address a variety of topics of interest to consumers, their daily lives, their relationship with producers and suppliers of goods, products and services. Information on technical and policy discussions that may affect consumer rights will also be posted on the website.

ProConsumers understands that when consumers are better informed about their rights and are safeguarded in their consumption relationship, it represents a great potential to significantly influence the quality and creation of a good business environment for companies producing and supplying products, goods and services in the country.

It is important to note that these activities are implemented with the support of GAIN and financed by USAID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and aim at ensuring the common goal of safe and nutritious food for the Mozambican population, based on strong consumers to vitamins and minerals through access to safe and nutritious food, including fortified, properly processed and labeled foods.

Source: TVM / A Verdade