The Consumer Affairs Authority has seized canned fish worth about Rs. 1.5 million from a manufacturing facility in the Alabadagama area of Pannala that was operating without a valid licence from the Sri Lanka Standards Institution.
Officers from the authority’s Competition Promotion Division carried out the raid on Friday (7) after receiving a tip-off.
Products reached supermarket shelves
Investigators found that canned fish produced at the facility was being distributed for sale through major supermarket chains, meaning uncertified stock had already reached mainstream retail.
The authority said legal action will be initiated over the manufacture of canned fish without a displayed date of manufacture, and over the storage, sale and distribution of those products. The suspects and the seized stock are to be produced before the Kuliyapitiya Magistrate’s Court.
A recurring target for enforcement
Canned fish has become a repeat focus of CAA factory raids. The authority seized uncertified canned fish from an illegal facility in Arachchikattuwa in June, in that case over the absence of the mandatory SLS certification mark.
The SLS mark is mandatory for locally manufactured canned fish. Its absence, along with a missing date of manufacture, leaves consumers without the means to judge either the safety standard a product was made to or how long it has been on the shelf.
Source: Ada Derana.
