Dragon Energy Drink Stays On The Shelves
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday October 26, 2015 12:40
MoH Chief Public Relations Officer, Doreen Motshegwa, has said the ministry is not removing Dragon energy drink because they have procedures to find out if a product, at any point in time, is hazardous to human health.
“Products have to be tested to ensure that they are safe. We have testing facilities that are usually used in situations like this, therefore it would not be right to stop or detain products without concrete proof that they are indeed harmful.”
“Currently Botswana does not have fortification regulations, but we do have the labelling of prepackaged foods regulations, statutory instrument (SI) 16 of 2003,” she said.
Motshegwa added that under the Food Control Act, Botswana has labelling of prepackaged foods regulations and labelling of food additives regulations.
“If these laws have not been violated, it is not possible to remove these beverages from the market place.” She added.
However, Motshegwa noted that they have mobilised authorised officers countrywide to get the facts on the ground about the specific products and any wrongly labelled products. She added that where products are not complying with the labelling regulations, authorised officers are mandated by law to institute immediate removal.
“It is also important to know that though all countries use Codex food standards as a guideline, every country has a right to protect its citizens in a way seen suitable for them,” Motshegwa said.
She urged the public to familiarise themselves with the labelling on food products before purchase adding that with caffeine, commonly used in drinks, an adult person is recommended not to consume more than 400mg of caffeine in a day.
“When a label is saying high caffeine content only, without stating amount, it would be in violation of the laws as a consumer will not know the actual content.”
Recently some countries have removed the Dragon energy drink from the market saying it violated import procedures and does not meet the required health standards of beverages in the respective countries.
Dragon is also said to contain artificial flavourings that are not declared by names on the list of ingredients.
There are also claims that the drink contains vitamins on the list of ingredients that imply that fortification ingredients were added without written permission.
Last week the Zimbabwean government stopped the sale of Dragon energy drink saying the beverage violated country’s health standards.
According to that country’s health authorities, the energy drink is in breach of the section of the health law, which stipulates that where food contains any artificial flavouring or artificial colouring, the name of the artificial flavouring or artificial colouring should be clearly labelled.