On 20th April 2016, Member of Parliament, Honourable Gilbert Olanya representing Kilak Constituency in Amuru District complained before the Parliament about substandard salt brands that were being sold on the Ugandan market, namely Bahari and Sunsat. The two table salt brands were not dissolving in water hence substandard.
The Hon Minister of Trade Industry and Cooperatives requested UNBS to draw samples of the said brands from the market and test them according to the Ugandan standards. The inspection was conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Uganda Standards. (US EAS 35:2012– Fortified food grade salt – Specification)
The following brands were drawn from Kampala and Gulu market and sent to the UNBS laboratories for testing; Habari, Bahari, Chiluma, Sunsat, Malindi.
Results:
The UNBS team carried out a simple solubility tests on the salt samples obtained. The Sunsat and Malindi Salt brands did not dissolve completely in water as the other salt brands. UNBS further carried out laboratory tests on all the samples and only two samples Malindi and Sunsat did not meet standards as explained below;
• The two samples Malindi and Sunsat samples did not meet the requirement for insoluble in water contrary to clause 4.3 which states that ‘Fortified food grade salt shall also conform to compositional requirements for fortified food grade salt’ in the above standard.
• The two brands Malindi and Sunsat samples did not meet the requirements for labeling contrary to clause 10.2.4 (f) and (i) which states that ‘(f) level of iodine in mg/100g and (i) complete list of ingredients including food additives in descending order of proportions shall be shown on the label’
Seized consignment;
A total number of Five hundred seventy-eight (578) cartons of suspected Malindi Salt and Two hundred and nineteen (219) cartons of Sunsat table salt were recovered from Gulu market and Kampala.
UNBS action;
• All the seized consignment of the salt will be destroyed.
• All the salt batches MS SS 2015/12/500 and MS SK 2015/12/500 for Sunsat and Malindi brands respectively will be recalled from the Uganda market with immediate effect.
• UNBS to continue surveying the Ugandan market and further tighten its borders.
UNBS has a toll free number where the public can report on issues concerning quality of products on the market; 0800133133
Dangers of consuming substandard
The salt contained insoluble material which could be sand, stones, heavy metals etc and these substances are dangerous to our bodies because they may affect the appendix and they are not useful to the body.
