Produce dealer arrested with poisonous beer grain

Jul 02, 2014

The Environment Protection Force has arrested an agro produce dealer in Jinja in a renewed attempt to recover poisonous barley which was diverted from destruction back on to the market in April this year.

By Gerald Tenywa

The Environment Protection Force have arrested an agro produce dealer in Jinja in a renewed attempt to recover poisonous barley which was diverted from destruction back on to the market in April this year.

According to Taire Idhwege, the head of the Environment Protection Force, the agro produce dealer is cooperating with his team and that he is going to be treated as a witness. He declined to name the agro produce dealer.

“We want to go to the source and establish the people who were behind the scam and where the barley was sold,” he told New Vision in an interview.

He also pointed out that about 200 tonnes of spoilt barley has been recovered from the premises of the agro produce dealer in Jinja sitting along the shores of Lake Victoria.

“In December 2013, UBL contacted UNBS to report the expiry of barley stocks totaling over 500 tonnes with the purpose of seeking advice on how best to destroy the stocks,” according to a statement by Charity Kiyemba, the Corporate Relations director at UBL.

Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) then wrote to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to inform them about the barley stocks, requesting them to facilitate and grant permission to destroy the spoilt barley.

“As this is not out area of expertise, UBL contracted a NEMA certified vendor to carry out the destruction and a certificate of destruction by the vendor was issued.”

In a June 28, Saturday Vision story that shocked the industry, it reported that the spoilt barley left UBL, but has never reached Kiteezi or Nakasongola where it was meant to be destroyed.

The quoted sources who preferred to remain anonymous said the expired barley could have ended up in the chains supplying producers of animal feeds or a supplier to a brewing company.

In the same Spotlight report, Taire said the barley could have ended in Jinja or Tororo or Kenya.

The Environment Protection Force chief Wedneday said Onapito-Ekomoloit, the Corporate Affairs director Nile Breweries Limited contacted him with concerns that the spoilt barley could affect their business.

But he assured him that the dealer who bought the compromised barley had been netted.

“The agro produce dealer we have arrested is not connected to the brewing industry,” said Taire.

In a separate statement sent to New Vision, Onapito-Ekomoloit stated that NBL, Uganda’s biggest brewery, could not have acquired the spoiled barley due to stringent inspection systems.

“We have not bought any barley outside our standard structures; our dealing is transparent. The risk of this barley getting into our supply chain is unlikely as we have a comprehensive quality and sampling standard - The physical appearance, smell among other things and therefore the chance of mouldy grain getting through is relatively small,” said Onapito-Ekomoloit.

He added, “In terms of sampling we engage a global sampling standard that is based on lot size and therefore any sub-standard grain should be identified.”

The Police chief also pointed that the investigations will not leave out anybody engaged in the deal. “I can assure you that the truth will come out.”

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