Fake Royco on sale

Have you ever wondered why you cook your sauce with Royco Mchuzi mix but it does not appear like the spiced gravy one you see on your television screen in the advert daily?

Well, there are chances that the sauce you eat may have been cooked with fake Royco Mchuzi mix.

Sunday Vision investigations have established that there are several tins of fake and poorly labeled Royco Mchuzi mix on the market, especially the 200gm beef flavour. The fake Royco is common in Nateete and Kikubo,downtown Kampala.

A source who tipped Sunday Vision led us to several retail shops that deal in fake Royco in Kikubo. Here, men and women who want to make quick and easy money are busy selling fake Royco since it one of the most expensive spices.

 "Several Royco consumers are at a risk. Conmen have started packing adulterated Royco in plastic tins and are supplying it to busy centers like down town and Wandegeya. You cannot know what they mix in those tins because the spices are not even certified," the source noted.

 According to Uganda National Bureau of standards, for the last two years Ugandans have been deceived and cheated by selling to them fake Royco, which puts their health at risk. The fake Royco is not authorized by any Government regulatory body, according to Barbara Kamusiime, the UNBS spokesperson.

"About two years ago, we had issues with people faking Royco. According to our standards, any product that is repackaged or tempered with, is considered counterfeit. Repackaging is unacceptable. We do not know what they repackage inside, we are calling upon buyers to take note of the seal, if it is tempered with, don't buy," Kamusiime said.

Sam Watasa, the president of Uganda Consumer Protection Association (UCPA) cautioned Ugandans to always be on the lookout for counterfeit products, especially consumables.

"Consumers should be on the lookout for those features. If they become suspicious or are not sure they should not buy. They should alert us or call UNBS. When buying a commodity, consumers are advised to get receipts of purchase for traceability. Unfortunately, some of those places do not provide receipts," said Watasa. He said UCPA would team up with UNBS and follow up the issue of fake Royco on the market.

 How to spot fake Royco

• When opened, the fake Royco Mchuzi Mix has a yellowish substance inside and has a strong chocking smell because of the things they add and dirty containers used.
• If you put it into water, it turns into a golden color but sinks immediately. If you are preparing beef stew, it cannot be thicken.
• The packaging is also different. The fake one has grammatical errors of the words printed .in the labeled information.
• The fake Royco has a picture of an onion on the cover yet the genuine one does not.
• The containers holding fake products normally do not have computerized dates, they can easily go off.
• The weight of genuine Royco is normally lighter than that of a fake products.
• The genuine Royco has dots line on the cover, when you look at the container.
• The batch number on the fake Royco is in big letters yet the one on the right ones the letters are small.If they indicate the manufacturing date, they do not indicate the expiry date.
• The contacts indicated are fake, if you try to call them the number is always off or does not exist in any telecommunication network.
• During packing, most of the criminals forget the labeling. Usually there is no clear manufacturing and expiring dates. And ingredients are not indicated.
• Genuine Royco from Kenya has a diamond mark but the fake one do not have. Conmen find a way of going around the Diamond mark logo and make the buyer believe it is the real one. Usually there is no batch number.
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Dangers

"Since no one knows what they add in when they are packaging it even the hygiene of where it it manufactured, it can lead to food poisonous which can lead to death. It can also cause diahhroea and so many complications," said Mudusa Soloboya, a nutritionist at Kabasa Hospital in Butalejja.

"Anything that is adultered is not always safe. We do not know the formula and chemicals they use. You could find they use cassava flour and food colour to cheat people. UNBS needs a lot to do because most of those spices are not fit for human consumption," since we do not know the ingredients, as a nutritionist we cannot help people," said Jamilu Mpiima, a nutriniosit at Victoria University.

Comment from Unilever

When contacted, Unilever, the distributor of Royco confirmed that the sample acquired from Kikuubo had been tested and found to be fake.

"The tests were done and the pack you shared was not genuine which an isolated case is as we have genuine products in the market. Share more details on where the pack was found for the enforcement agencies to follow this," said Pheodor Njoroge from Unilever Nairobi, Kenya.

This is not the first consumable that Ugandans have counterfeited. Sunday Vision has reported about counterfeits cooking oil, bread, juice and waragi.