Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
22/05/2013
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
Evandro Éboli
Collaborated Luciana Casimir
Posted: 05/22/13 - 8:00 a.m.
Updated: 22/05/13 - 9:14 a.m.
BRASILIA - Cases like the filling of caustic soda in place of soy juice in AdeS factory in Minas Gerais, and poisoning of children with chocolate Toddynho, also cleaner, led the National Agency for Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA) to formulate specific rules for food recall. The agency drafted a resolution which will be discussed tomorrow by the Board and subsequently submitted for 60 days for public consultation.
The text provides, for example, that the industry must notify the agency within 24 hours after the determination of the recall, how many units of the contaminated food was manufactured or imported, how many were distributed in the domestic market and have been distributed to many social programs, schools, childcare, healthcare facility etc.. It further provides that, regardless of the manufacturer, the agency can determine the payment.
According to Director of Monitoring and Control of ANVISA, Agenor Alvares, former Minister of Health, today the agency is not notified when these problems occur and learns of the few voluntary company recalls the news:
- It is absurd to know the press. The inadequate communication of the problem to the health authority, as in the recent cases involving powdered chocolate, Easter eggs and soy-based beverages, can lead to the adoption of measures inefficient and hence the permanence of the health risk to consumers.
Today, the sector is not obliged to inform ANVISA about detected problems with the performance of the products or gathering food. The industries that make voluntary recall communicate that decision solely to the Department of Consumer Protection of the Ministry of Justice.
Completion in 60 days if there is a health risk
Alvarez admits that there is a gap in oversight of food. Hence the need to regulate the recall and require industry commitment when there are problems of contamination. The regulation will strengthen the Consumer Defense Code (CDC), requiring the company to make the warning in media that reach the entire population. These public statements, they must inform not only the need of the recall of the product, as the reason and consequences to the health of your intake. The ad should have information like brand, batch, expiry date, net content, type of packaging, manufacturer identification and recommendations. The agency wants to ensure that the products are collected in the hands of consumers, not just those who are in the market.
Foods to be collected will be divided into two classes: those products deemed unfit for implying health risk if food contaminated with formaldehyde and caustic soda, for example, should have the recall process completed within 60 days, and the foods with labeling errors such as wrong statement batch number, have up to 120 days.
Ricardo Morishita, Professor of Law Consumer Law FGV-Rio, says the Resolution ANVISA can contribute by giving greater specificity to the general recall of the CDC:
- We live in a risk society, in which the private and public sectors must be committed to the protection of the consumer.
Read more about this topic in
© 1996-2013. All rights reserved Infoglobo Comunicação e Participações SA This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Source: The Globe
Our news are taken in full from our partner sites. For this reason, we can not change the contents of the same even in cases of typos.
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.