Govt waives new conditions for import of edible products

Decision taken in a bid to stave off goods shortage in Ramazan

ISLAMABAD: The government has caved into the pressure from traders and multinational companies and has allowed them to continue the import of edible products without following new labelling requirements, officials say.

The government has doubts that most of the Pakistani consumers are receiving edible products which are not halal and of inferior quality because of a flawed import policy. This may pose a health hazard to the consumers as well.

Keeping this in view, the government notified labelling requirements for the import of edible products in February this year. However, the traders, importers and multinational companies dealing in fast moving consumer goods approached the Commerce Division, seeking more time for compliance with the new conditions.

The traders and multinational companies were of the view that adequate time was required for making adjustments in the supply chain in order to comply with the labelling requirements. They also argued that the new conditions would hinder the supply of some of the essential edible products and cause their shortage in Ramazan.

Consequently, the government put off implementation of the labelling guidelines on the import of edible products till the start of July 2019, said the officials.

Under the new conditions, the edible products, at the time of import, should have at least 50% remaining shelf life and in case of meat it should be obtained from Halal animals and slaughtered in accordance with the Islamic injunctions.

Moreover, the consumers should be aware of the ingredients of edible products keeping in view their benefits.

The labelling requirements for food items are essential for human health and safety as many countries have made it mandatory that ingredients of food products are printed in local language for the convenience of consumers.



Since Halal certification is not mandatory under the current law, it becomes very difficult for the Customs authorities to ascertain whether an edible product is Halal or not. A meeting was held earlier in this regard with the stakeholders under the chairmanship of adviser to the prime minister on commerce and industry. In the huddle, proposals came to add some more conditions.

It was proposed that imported products should have at least 66% remaining shelf life, ingredients and details of nutritional facts, usage instructions, etc of food products should be printed in Urdu and English and the logo of Halal certification body should also be printed on the consumer packaging.

Apart from these, it was proposed that the shipment of products must also carry a halal certificate issued by a halal certification body recognised by an accrediting institution, which is a member of the International Halal Accreditation Forum.

It was also proposed that in order to comply with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, similar conditions should also apply to the edible products manufactured locally with effect from July 1, 2019 and for that necessary instructions should be issued to the Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and provincial food authorities. Most of these conditions were approved in February this year and were notified. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2019.

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