DOHA: The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) said yesterday that a consignment of Lyod Grossman tomato sauce that contains a limited quantity of red wine entered the local market due to the fault of an inspection supervisor.
Legal action has been taken against the erring supervisor, the SCH said in a statement.
The consignment was cleared at the Doha Port before the product was released to the market for sale. The Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning pulled the product off the shelves last month over concerns that it contains red wine. Samples of the product were taken for laboratory tests. The tests apparently have confirmed the presence of red wine in the popular sauce from the UK-based company.
The SCH said it has taken all necessary measures “to ensure the highest level of food safety and minimize human errors which may happen in such cases.” Citing data, the SCH said that incidents of products being missed during inspections are one in 1000, which it said proves the effectiveness of the monitoring system.
There is a new mechanism for monitoring food consignments of varying types which requires special procedures and cooperation of all the bodies concerned especially the importers, said the statement.
The SCH said it is coordinating with the bodies concerned to provide sufficient space for inspection at the border check points and for follow up inspection in the local market. The SCH is also conducting an intensive training programme for all inspectors to build their technical capacity and improve efficiency to deal with emerging issues related to food safety. The Peninsula
