Ban on cooked up ads

20 January 2013 11:41 am

Advertisements of food items should be approved by the Director General of Health Services with immediate effect, the Health Ministry said.

The Health Ministry said that “any institutes, who wish to have advertisements related to food items  in the media should get approval from the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) prior to publishing/telecasting, in order to prevent the public from being misled.

“Accordingly, Director General of Health Services (DGHS) has decided to revise the rules on Food Act thoroughly for advertisements which could mislead people or give false information. Actions have already been taken to ban some advertisements connected to food publicity,” the Health Ministry said.

Heath Minister Maithripala Sirisena had advised DGHS Palitha Maheepala who is empowered with Food Authority to take action immediately on this behalf, the Ministry said.

The publicity on food should be according to Food Act No. 26 of 1980 and Food Labelling Orders. According to 3(1) of Food Act No. 26 of 1980, “No one should give false or misleading information on food items, seasoning preparations.