[Source: Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission/Facebook]

The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission has identified 80 businesses as non-compliant with food safety practices over the past few months.

Chief Executive Joel Abraham says that these businesses were flagged during more than 300 joint inspections conducted with the Ministry.

The FCCC is a key member of the National Food Safety Task Force, collaborating closely with the Ministry of Health.

Abraham says the items confiscated were sent for condemnation.

“That is a high cause of concern when you’ve got 80 particular businesses, 80 different instances where you found issues of non-compliance with food safety. So we have upped our work around food safety and in the new financial year, the FCCC is taking food safety as one of the key thematic areas that we’ll be focusing on.”

Abraham says their focus is not only to inspect supermarket shelves, but the inspectors are also visiting bulks, warehouses, and keeping tabs on the work of the merchandisers.

“Because the consumer just looks at the shelf, but what happens before it hits the shelf? If you’re buying a particular can, do you know if cockroaches have been running on it or rats have been running on it? What are the hygiene standards for warehouses?”

Abraham says over the past six month, they have been focusing on hygiene standards of supermarkets and warehouses.

The food safety taskforce has been established to address the current challenges faced by consumers, such as labelling requirements, sale of near expiry items, importation, distribution, and storage issues.