Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) in the Central Zone has ordered business people to stop selling expired goods because they are detrimental to human health and the country’s economy.
The remarks were made by the TBS Inspector in the Central Zone, Domisiano Rutalala after impounding and destroying various expired products including food and cosmetics worth more than 100m/-.
“Some products like cosmetics may become toxic and whey they are used after the expiration date can be a source of life threatening diseases like cancer,” he said.
He added for the expired food products may lose some important nutrients when they are used after their expiration date.
Mr Rutalala said however that most of the cosmetic products seized and destroyed were those which have been banned from being used in the domestic market because they have toxic ingredients.
He said TBS destroyed expired products were impounded in all district councils in Singida, Dodoma and Tabora regions as a result of inspection conducted at different times since last year to August this year.
According to Rutalala selling cosmetics with toxic ingredients may cause dangerous diseases including skin cancer, affect reproductive system, fetus growth in the womb and other cancer diseases.
He said TBS will continue to conduct inspection in various parts of the country to uproot products that are of low quality and have exceeded their expiration date.
He urged all business people dealing with cosmetics to visit the TBS website where they can access information on banned cosmetics in the local market.
Mr Rutalala said business people may incur huge losses when they continue dealing with expired and banned products in the domestic market. Apart from paying heavy fines, they are supposed to pay all costs to be used for destroying the impounded products.