The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has issued new quality standards to all grain and flour exporters beginning this week.
According to the standards agency, this was done to reduce the possibility of poor quality products being rejected by export markets.
This comes after South Sudan officials at the Nimule border point confiscated truck loads of food from Uganda that were deemed unfit for human consumption, claiming that the samples had tested positive for aflatoxin.
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) announced in a statement that it has increased efforts to monitor the quality of maize grain and flour exports to ensure standard compliance.
As such, every maize grain and flour exporter is advised to obtain copies of key maize standards and comply with the specified requirements.
Among the requirements that exporters must fulfill include identifying a yard which is motorable, secure, dust and mud free to be the assembling point for the trucks to be sampled.
The exporters are also required to provide sealable trucks for safe custody of the sampled products.
Trucks whose results are found to comply with the standard shall be released to proceed to the border under UNBS seal.
Meanwhile those trucks whose results will be found non-compliant shall be retained for further management in line with the agreed procedures of handling non-conforming products.
“Every exporter has been asked to have his/ her product packaging clearly and indelibly labelled and traceable with the Name of Product, Name and Address of the Manufacturer/Packer, Brand Name and/or Registered Trade Mark, Batch, Net Weight in SI units, Storage Instructions, the statement "food for human consumption”, Country of Origin, Date of Manufacture, Expiry Date and instructions for disposal of used package (Ref: US EAS 2 and US EAS 44 and US EAS 38),” reads part of the statement by UNBS.
Further, exporters are also required to present a copy of the ownership of the consignment and a copy of a valid UNBS Certification Permit.
This sampling process shall always take place between 9.00am and 1.00pm and any trucks that disappear from the parking yard or any exporter that violates the new guidelines shall nullify the whole exercise
