Excise orders 26 booze makers to print production date on bottles, cans from April 1

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana

The Excise Department of Sri Lanka yesterday ordered all 26 soft and hard liquor manufacturing companies in the country to print the production date of their spirits on the respective bottles and cans with effect from April 1st.   
Sending a special circular to all licenced liquor sellers last Friday, the Commissioner General of Excise said that all liquor manufacturers in the country had been ordered to print their production date either on bottles or cans and the sellers should be mindful of accepting new stocks only with the printed date.   
When contacted Excise Chief U L Udaya Kumara Perera told the Daily Mirror yesterday that 25 hard liquor manufacturing companies and the beer manufactory company had been ordered to include the production date of their spirits on the bottles and cans with effect from yesterday.   
He said several leading liquor manufacturing companies had already been printing their production date for some time now and the rest were also ordered to adhere to this decision.   
The department has taken the decision as a safety precaution to prevent any adulterated and unregulated spirits entering the market.
Through the circular, the licenced retailers had been instructed to furnish the details of their old stocks without the production date to the department and also to alert if any manufacturer is distributing new stocks sans the date.