30 March 2021 01:08 pm
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today alleged that the government was bothered about re-exporting the consignment of inferior quality cooking oil imported to Sri Lanka without taking steps to conduct an investigation into the incident and ensure that such an incident would not take place again in the future.
JVP Politburo member Sunil Hadunnetti told a news conference that re-exporting the consignments was not the solution to the issue.
“The Government should conduct an investigation as to who should take the responsibility, what loopholes have led to enter such inferior quality stock of coconut oil into the country and also whether the stocks have been released to the market,” he said.
He said it was the responsibility of the government to ensure that people are provided with healthy and nutritious food.
“People have no chance to test the quality of the food in the market. State institutions such as Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI), Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) and the Health Ministry are tasked with the responsibility to ensure the quality of the food. People have to trust the guarantee these state institutes have given on food available in the market,” he said.
Mr. Haddunnetti said it was wrong for the Customs Department to release the consignments to the private warehouses of the importers adding that customs officers cannot guarantee that the stocks are not released to the market.
He said similar issues were reported in the past with regard to the import of milk powder and canned fish which were unfit for human consumption and pointed out that no permanent solution was introduced to the issues. (Ajith Siriwardana)
Pix by Damith Wickramasinghe