ZABS quarantines 11, 000 by 1 litre containers of Lyons peanut butter from various shops in Lusaka

THE Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) has quarantined over 11, 000 by 1 litre containers of Lyons peanut butter from various shops in Lusaka valued at approximately K 357,500.00.

The product has been confined because laboratory test results received indicate that the peanut butter failed on one critical parameter known as aflatoxins.

ZABS head of marketing and public relations Hazel Mafwenko said this in a statement to Mwebantu.

She said the ceasing was done during routine market surveillances and inspections in the month of August, conducted by ZABS inspectors around Lusaka which targeted wholesale shops in the Central Business District (CBD), Soweto Market, Chaisa Township, Kamwala trading area, Woodlands, Kabwata, Chilenje, and Manda Hill shopping Mall as well as the main supplier of Lyons peanut butter, Lyons Trading Z Limited.
“We are concerned about this development because we know that products that do not conform to set standards can be a danger to the health and safety of consumers, who have the right to be protected from defective and dangerous products. Our major concern as you know is to safeguard the health and safety of our consumers by ensuring that they get quality and safe products from suppliers”, she said
ZABS has since continued to sample and test more of the peanut butter bearing different batch numbers to ascertain the quality of the product.
She said it is important for importers to know that section 10 of the Standards Act Cap 416 of the Laws of Zambia states in part, that “a person shall not supply to another person any commodity to which a compulsory standard applies unless the commodity concerned complies with the standard”.
“We want to assure the public that we will conduct country wide surveillance inspections and ensure that we withdraw this product from the market until such a time that the manufacturer is able to demonstrate that the product is compliant with the Zambian Standard, ZS 723 for peanut butter,” she said.
In the meantime, Mrs Mafwenko cautioned consumers to desist from consuming this product until such a time that we are satisfied that the manufacturer has complied with the requirements of the standard.
ZABS will continuously inspect products to make certain that those that do not comply with the set standards are immediately removed from the market to safeguard public health and safety.