CAA swoop on substandard chillie powder, tomato sauce manufactory

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

Mixing fabric dye and other substances

The kitchen where sauce is manufactured

Powder for manufacture of chewing gum

A refilled tomato sauce can

CAA officials inspect the chillie powder

The dye that caught on the fingertips

Hot on the heels of recent raids made by Public Health Inspectors(PHIs) of the Colombo Municipal Council of substandard and poor quality food being sold in eating houses, it is questionable how we choose our food products from a range of varieties now available in the market. Unlike in the old days when only a single or two brands were available and the consumer relied on them, today a range of brands with various qualities and prices can be found. Although many consumers go for quality, still others buy items which are priced low to survive in the competing economy. although there are state institutes like the Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) or the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) to assure the quality of a product, there is still no proper mechanism to control hundreds of substandard products entering the market on a daily basis.

This was proved when CAA investigating officers raided a substandard chillie powder and tomato sauce manufacturing domestic factory in Slave Island last week. The CAA official on information raided a four -storied flat off Church Road, Slave Island and recovered around 1000 kilograms of substandard chillie powder mixed with fabric dye and a stock of tomato sauce made with a substance which is used to make chewing gum.

The ground floor of the building houses a grocery that sells spices and packeted chillie powder. The chillie is ground and mixed in a rear side store room. When investigating officers swooped in, large stocks of chillie powder was spread on the bare floor There were shovels to mix the large quantities of chillie powder as if it was some kind of building component.

The first sight one gets on entering the store room is one of disgust as the store room is in such a bad state. CAA Deputy Director Regional Asela Bandara told the Sunday Observer that the building was unsuitable and unhygienic and was not suitable to carry out a grinding mill or packing centre as in addition it is infested with rodents. There is no proper ventilation either, the officer said.

The proprietor of the substandard business had mixed the chillie powder with fabric dye, which is a chemical product unsuitable for human consumption. The dye gives an enhanced rich red colour to the chillie powder which allures the customer to buy it instantly amidst other brands in the market which have a pale colour. He said that customers tend to buy this in the belief that the enhanced red colour indicates the spiciness of the product. What is more the chillie powder is also mixed with ground red, raw flour to give the product a certain amount of thickness. It is learnt that the fabric dye is poisonous and could even cause cancer if consumed in food.

The officers also detected a tomato sauce manufacturing plant on the top most floor of the building where a disgusting odour emanated. The sauce is made with small quantities of tomato pulp added into a large cauldron of boiling hot water, mixed with vinegar, salt, lime, sugar as well as an alien substance never used in the tomato ketchup ingredients.

It is a powder similar to caustic soda in appearance. The product is actually a jelly like substance diluted in hot water and used to manufacture chewing gum. Normally the chewing gum is disposed off once a person finishes chewing it so that it does not enter the digestive system. This product is added in the sauce to create thickness which is hazardous to health.

The prepared sauce is then filled into four litre cans prior to labelling them with the brand name with a list of ingredients that doesn't include the chewing gum mixture. According to the CAA official a four litre can of good tomato sauce is sold at around Rs.400 in the wholesale market while the substandard product is sold at Rs.280. Even the plastic cans used to fill the sauce are collected from recycling shops and are not sterilised prior to refilling. The CAA requests the public to be wary when buying food items in the market especially ones at drastically low prices. The best way to be sure of the product you buy is to check for the SLS logo on the label. Legal action will be instituted against those responsible for the manufacture of substandard products., the officers said.

How many of us eagerly ask for some tomato ketchup when we are about to eat some hot short eats or French fries to enhance the flavour of the food, little knowing the concoction that has gone into the manufacture of the sauce.

Eating houses and restaurants purchase sauce in bulk. But what remains in those small bottles of ketchup on the restaurant tables would really not matter to the hungry customer. Or would it?