[ad#200×200]The Colombo High Court yesterday expressed concern over the Health Ministry’s delay in the melamine issue.
When the appeal filed by Edna Company was taken up for hearing, High Court Judge Kumudini Wickremasinghe said health authorities should have set the required standards earlier instead of waiting for some crisis to take place.
She made this criticism when the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) informed court that the Health Ministry was planning to implement World Health Organisation standards (WHO) in the melamine issue.
Lawyer Wijedasa Rajapakshe who appeared for Edna Chocolate Company said the CAA only took action when rival companies brought up these issues.
“The CAA is sleeping over some of these issues. Not only in milk products but I have seen for myself that melamine is spread on fresh fruits and vegetables in open supermarkets and I informed the CAA but no action has been taken,” Mr. Rajapakshe said.
Test all milk
Judge Wickremasinghe said the Sri Lanka Standards Institution should have taken action earlier and introduced standards for the products.
At this stage the court directed the Health Ministry’s Food and Drug Controller to inform court what the tolerable amount of melamine was in food.
The Lawyer appearing for the CAA said reports on the samples had been sent to the Health Ministry from Singapore but the reports have not been forwarded to the CAA.
Mr. Rajapakshe said milk products especially high protein milk products in the market contained a certain amount of melamine.
He said according to the WHO all milk products contained melamine and the percentage should not exceed 2.5 % the level harmless for human consumption.
Judge Wickremesinghe ordered the CAA to test all milk products being sold in the market by sending samples to the A.L.S. Laboratory in Singapore to check whether they were suitable for human consumption.
The court also ordered that random samples be examined without interference by any party and directed the Attorney General to oversee the examination procedure.
“If any parties interfere and disturb the process, they will be dealt with severely and will be punished for contempt of court,” the judge warned.
The court also extended stay order imposed by the Colombo Additional Magistrate restraining the production, distribution of Edna products and issuing an order to destroy all Edna products in stock and those in the market as laboratory findings had confirmed the products contained melamine.
The CAA was ordered to take over the keys of the Edna stores where sealed food was stored.
The case was fixed for November 4.
Last Friday the Colombo Magistrate ordered Edna Chocolates (Ceylon) Limited to stop all operations and distribution until further notice.
However, the company filed an appeal in the Colombo High Court against the order of the Magistrate.
Counsels Wijedasa Rajapakshe with Ali Sabry and Gamini Hettiarachchi instructed by Dharmawardena Jayasinghe appeared for the Edna Company.
By Susitha R. Fernando and
Farook Thajudeen
source: dailymirror.lk