Watchdogs clear Sameer milk
Feb 09, 2009
THE Government and five national regulatory bodies have dismissed reports in a local tabloid that Ugandan milk is contaminated with faeces.
By David Muwanga
THE Government and five national regulatory bodies have dismissed reports in a local tabloid that Ugandan milk is contaminated with faeces.
“The story is unfortunate and tantamounts to economic sabotage. We have never found any faeces in Uganda’s milk, otherwise people would be falling sick,†said the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) executive director, Dr. Terry Kahuma.
“It is sabotage because you need to cross-check with the regulatory authorities before writing such a story. They did not do that,†he said at a joint press conference.
Officials from the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), UNBS, the Uganda Manufacturer’s Association, the Dairy Development Authority (DDA), the trade ministry and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation addressed the media yesterday at Sameer Agriculture and Livestock Limited (SALL) offices at industrial area in Kampala.
The Red Pepper on Saturday reported that Syria had halted importation of Uganda’s milk produced by SALL after finding huge amounts of faeces.
The commissioner for trade, Silver Ojakol, said Uganda had just been battling Kenyan authorities for breaching non-tariff barriers.
Such unfounded media reports, Ojakol said, would worsen trade relations between Uganda and other countries.
“It is not a true report and should be dismissed with contempt. The reporter should have cross-checked with the relevant authorities instead of disrupting trade relations,†he said.
“It is a malicious report because over 50,000 milk suppliers and vendors depend on this company. If it closes down, the Government’s Prosperity- for-All-programmes cannot be achieved.â€
The DDA marketing and quality control officer, Steven Aikiriza, said there were quality-checks for SALL’s milk from the collection centres in Ntungamo, up to the stage of consumption.
“We have been issuing a certificate of compliance to the company annually after ensuring that all the processes have been fulfiled,†he said.
The company’s managing director, Anand Gaggar, said SALL had never exported any milk powder to Syria, apart from ghee.
“The story is intended to sabotage ongoing negotiations to start exporting milk powder to Syria,†he said.
“We employ 340 people of whom only 40 are expatriates. Over 50,000 farmers supply milk to SALL.â€
The company consumes between 120,000 to 130,000 litres of milk per day and is expected to increase to 170,000 in March when the rainy season starts.
“Sameer has a production capacity of 400,000 litres per day and half of this is milk powder,†he said.
The UIA executive director, Dr. Maggie Kigozi, said the company won last year’s investor of the year Bronze Award for investing $13.7m in Uganda, creating 317 jobs and implementing the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 22000:2005 in food safety management system certification.
Gaggar said the company exported 110,745 litres of milk worth sh131m in 2006.
In 2007, it exported 1,461,976 litres worth sh1.5b and 3.9m litres worth sh7.8b last year, he said.
Sameer exports milk and related products to Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Sudan, Sri-Lanka, Dubai, Yemen, Mauritius and eastern Congo.
It also supplies over 200,000 litres of milk per month to the UN peace keeping forces in Sudan and eastern Congo.
Gaggar said the company was faced with declining prices of milk powder on the global market, which have fallen by more than half.
THE Government and five national regulatory bodies have dismissed reports in a local tabloid that Ugandan milk is contaminated with faeces.
“The story is unfortunate and tantamounts to economic sabotage. We have never found any faeces in Uganda’s milk, otherwise people would be falling sick,†said the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) executive director, Dr. Terry Kahuma.
“It is sabotage because you need to cross-check with the regulatory authorities before writing such a story. They did not do that,†he said at a joint press conference.
Officials from the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), UNBS, the Uganda Manufacturer’s Association, the Dairy Development Authority (DDA), the trade ministry and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation addressed the media yesterday at Sameer Agriculture and Livestock Limited (SALL) offices at industrial area in Kampala.
The Red Pepper on Saturday reported that Syria had halted importation of Uganda’s milk produced by SALL after finding huge amounts of faeces.
The commissioner for trade, Silver Ojakol, said Uganda had just been battling Kenyan authorities for breaching non-tariff barriers.
Such unfounded media reports, Ojakol said, would worsen trade relations between Uganda and other countries.
“It is not a true report and should be dismissed with contempt. The reporter should have cross-checked with the relevant authorities instead of disrupting trade relations,†he said.
“It is a malicious report because over 50,000 milk suppliers and vendors depend on this company. If it closes down, the Government’s Prosperity- for-All-programmes cannot be achieved.â€
The DDA marketing and quality control officer, Steven Aikiriza, said there were quality-checks for SALL’s milk from the collection centres in Ntungamo, up to the stage of consumption.
“We have been issuing a certificate of compliance to the company annually after ensuring that all the processes have been fulfiled,†he said.
The company’s managing director, Anand Gaggar, said SALL had never exported any milk powder to Syria, apart from ghee.
“The story is intended to sabotage ongoing negotiations to start exporting milk powder to Syria,†he said.
“We employ 340 people of whom only 40 are expatriates. Over 50,000 farmers supply milk to SALL.â€
The company consumes between 120,000 to 130,000 litres of milk per day and is expected to increase to 170,000 in March when the rainy season starts.
“Sameer has a production capacity of 400,000 litres per day and half of this is milk powder,†he said.
The UIA executive director, Dr. Maggie Kigozi, said the company won last year’s investor of the year Bronze Award for investing $13.7m in Uganda, creating 317 jobs and implementing the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 22000:2005 in food safety management system certification.
Gaggar said the company exported 110,745 litres of milk worth sh131m in 2006.
In 2007, it exported 1,461,976 litres worth sh1.5b and 3.9m litres worth sh7.8b last year, he said.
Sameer exports milk and related products to Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Sudan, Sri-Lanka, Dubai, Yemen, Mauritius and eastern Congo.
It also supplies over 200,000 litres of milk per month to the UN peace keeping forces in Sudan and eastern Congo.
Gaggar said the company was faced with declining prices of milk powder on the global market, which have fallen by more than half.