Friday, 10 January 2014 00:00
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If a nation is what it eats, then Sri Lanka is fast turning foul. During the last few weeks a slew of raids carried out by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), with its new-found enthusiasm, has uncovered vast stocks of food unfit for consumption before they were released to the market. But it has likely only scratched the surface of the problem with significant legal and resource impediments to providing citizens with proper nutrition.
Food, especially clean food, is a basic right. Consumers have the right to have access to food meeting adequate standards that are priced to provide access to the most essential of items. This is clearly not the case in Sri Lanka since worm-riddled sprats and expired chocolate is the fare dished out to people. What was interesting during the last few weeks was that even a restaurant in Colombo 7 specialising in chocolate treats was caught out with large amounts of expired chocolate it was planning to melt down for high-paying customers, showing how wide the problem is.
It is evident that no one is safe from the menace of unscrupulous traders. It is not limited to Pettah and an islandwide monitoring system has to be put in place to apprehend and punish the offenders. Consumer rights is an oft-discussed subject in Sri Lanka, but no one seems to be interested in taking it to a meaningful level.
The Government is fond of repeating Sri Lanka is now a middle income country, but its food standards do not reflect this statistical achievement. Moving beyond basic items netted by the CAA, even imported products of low quality are readily accepted by consumers, unlike in other countries. Moreover, even sporadic price increases on electricity tariffs, fuel prices, gas as well as a plethora of items are routinely done without transparent consultation with consumers.
Another infringement of consumer rights is stockpiling to create artificial shortages. Currently consumers are struggling to cope with a milk powder shortage that has shown up Government-led efforts to break monopolies and keep errant traders in line. A month-long strike at the State-run Milco Company has not helped matters and even with it in full flow, the demand cannot be met domestically. Pundits also argue that protectionist policies of the Government are hurting poor consumers who are left with fewer options as companies do not have to face competition from outside products. In fact Government policies that promote self-sufficiency lead to the same end since consumers have no choice but to buy at internally-regulated artificial prices. This means that the poorest of the poor are hardest hit by policies that are promoted as being beneficial to them.
Most local consumers’ lack knowledge on rights and duties, take certain matters for granted, and lack resources to pursue rights, while in other countries consumer rights that were limited to safety, information, choice and to be heard have progressed to rights to satisfaction of basic needs, consumer education, redress and rights to a healthier environment. Regulations and business ethics that aim for these standards need to be implemented in Sri Lanka as well. Even the CAA Act is underutilised, with almost no large-scale straying traders being punished by it to set a precedent for better policing.
Exporters and food producers in general also need to be provided with incentives to manufacture or grow food sans excessive pesticides and preservatives. All these fall under the large umbrella, sadly full of holes, of consumer protection.
