Sweets Not Fake Eggs Put UNBS in Storm

Clarification on media reports regarding fake eggs on the market
Kampala, 2nd November 2018. As the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), our attention is
drawn to the story that appeared on the front page of Sunday Vision of 28th October 2018 under the
headline: “Fake eggs hit Kampala Market”. The story contains inaccuracies and misrepresentation of
facts particularly on comments attributed to our market surveillance officer.
The products referred to in the article by our market surveillance team were actually sweets in packages
that looked like egg shells but clearly labelled as Funny Toys. Apart from the appearance of the package,
the product did not contain any features meant to mislead the public into believing that they are actual
eggs.
Our intervention as UNBS was due to suspected tampering with expiry dates and labels in Chinese
language in violation of the standard for labelling pre-packaged foods (US EAS 38: 2014).
We have not received complaints or come across cases of fake eggs on the market. However, as a
statutory body with a mandate to enforce standards to protect the health and safety of consumers and
the environment against dangerous substandard products, we would like to urge any person with
information that can help us in our investigations to report on our toll free line: 0800133133.
Fighting substandard products needs a concerted effort involving UNBS working together with
manufacturers, traders, consumers, and other government agencies. We would like to urge the public to
always look out for UNBS Distinctive Mark as a quality assurance that a locally manufactured product
meets the required standards and to report any cases of substandard products on the market on our
tollfree line: 0800133133.

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