Misleading labelling resolved
The National, Wednesday 24th April 2013
THE Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) has resolved a potentially serious problem involving misleading alcohol content labeling in alcoholic drinks supplied by Vitis Industries.
Vitis is a local brewing company operating outside of Port Moresby at 9-Mile and produces coffee punch among others.
ICCC investigated a complaint about the alcohol content of Vitis products, had the products tested and found that the alcohol content far exceeded the labeled content.
Commissioner Dr Billy Manoka said “We considered litigation for misleading labeling because consumers of the product would have ingested much more alcohol than they were led to believe and that posed a very significant risk of road accidents if they drove vehicles”.
He said consuming an excess amount of alcohol is a risk to health particularly when consumers do not know how much they are absorbing.
This may result because of misleading labeling on Vitis products.
Dr Manoka said “The fact that Vitis agreed with the findings and cooperated with the commission avoided the necessity of taking the matter to court, which would have been a lengthy and expensive alternative for both parties, and led to an effective solution being worked out, which safeguards the interests of the public”.
Vitis has built a new factory, installed much more accurate alcohol-measuring instruments which uses three different testing methods as part of the production processes: gas chromatography; photo spectrophotometry; and hydrometer testing.
“An amicable resolution means that a repeat of the unfortunate events which led to this investigation should be avoided,” Manoka added.
He said the commission had the power to take a company to court as a last resort where the matter could not be resolved amicably.
Manoka said the commission has requested the company to finalise a laboratory quality manual and to include in their testing processes the following;
* Record keeping- error results must be recorded and the corrective measures taken;
* Training records of the food technologist to be included in the manual; and
* Standing Operating Procedures (SOP) of the testing procedures must be documented.