Frozy manufacturer of Mozambique reacts to Malawi ban
The Mozambican company Yaafico Industrial, which makes the Frozy brand of soft drinks, has rejected claims by the Malawian Bureau of Standards (MBS) that the drinks do not meet the standards laid down by the Malawian authorities.
It has also accused MBS for not consulting the company before the ban.
The MBS banned the import of Frozy drinks because they contain high levels of citric acid and of the food preservative sodium benzoate.
MBS’s Chief Executive, Davlin Chokazinga, said the bureau had “objectively established that Frozy Soft Drinks are failing to conform with requirements of relevant Malawi Standards, MS 18-Carbonated soft drinks specification and MS 19-Labeling standard for prepackaged foods.”
But Yaafico Industrial said the drinks are certified by, and frequently analyzed by, the National Food and Water Hygiene Laboratory (LNHAA) of the Mozambican Health Ministry.
The company claimed that in the last analysis, in August, and in all previous ones, the levels of acidity detected were in conformity with the standards demanded by the LNHAA, and throughout the southern African region.
The company could show documents indicating that it has a certificate of quality issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and collaborates regularly with the National Inspectorate of Economic Activities (INAE).
Yaafico protested that it had never been asked by the Malawian authorities about the quality of its products.
It accused the MBS of bad faith, since it should have notified the Mozambican authorities about the matter, under the trade protocol of SADC (Southern African Development Community).
Yaafico says Frozy drinks are popular among Malawian consumers. It intends to appeal against the MBS decision, in order to “restore the truth” about its products.
Some business owners in Malawi alsi blasted MBS over its decision to impose a ban on the importation and sell of Frozy, saying the bureau is acting as a stooge for Southern Bottlers (SOBO).
Speaking in random interviews, one shop owner at Wenera Bus Depot, Sam Kaunda told Malawi News Agency (MANA) that they would adhere to the ban but argued that if Frozy had un-recommended amounts of citric acid and sodium benzoates, the drink could have been banned right away in Mozambique.
“Should we say that in Mozambique there is no such bureau that looks after food composition? Surely there is and why was Frozy not banned there? Ever since Malawians started drinking Frozy I have never heard someone complaining about it health-wise unlike these beers which the bureau is failing to impose a ban on,” he queried.
Kaunda added that the bureau seems to be operating under the influence of soft drink power-house SOBO so that the company can regain its grip on the market which was shaky due to the coming of Frozy.
“I can assure you that before this ban by MBS, SOBO officials have been telling us to stop selling Frozy because it was reducing their profits,” he said
But the MBS said it inspected samples of Frozy and found that the level of citric acid in the drinks ranged from 2,240 to 5,376 mg/kg compared with a permitted maximum of 3,000 mg/kg.
As for sodium benzoate, the permitted maximum in Malawi is 1,000 mg/kg, but the Frozy drinks were found to be hugely in excess of this, with levels of between 3,248 and 4,256 mg/kg.
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The truth AU and SADC is a failure when it comes to trade among the countries. It is not like EU. They are good in comparative. There was a bus from Malawi called Blue Bus which started traveling LL to Lusaka Zambia twice a week. I travelled with it to Lusaka. Very good bus with toilet and one get sandwich on board. On my way back I wanted to take the same bus because tit was clean and not for treaders. At the bus station in Lusaka where this bus should stand , I was directed to Zambian bus to… Read more »
Kodi botolo la Frozy ligagwiritsidwe ntchito mmalo mwa chida cha abambo ngati mmene anagwiritsira ntchito botolo la Coca-Cola mzimaziyi wa ku Area 49 uja?
Think deep people, we eat imported ranges of fruits, juices, etc of no good quality than our locally made products. Sobo is a worldwide co and in malawi there is NONE like it. The day I tasted Frozy I knew sobo ili mmadzi and therez a company on the north producing squashes and its way better than sobo squashes and I got to believe 100 percent that its what led to the 2litre decrease in price from k1500 to k135p in ptc shops.. So its now frozy.. Almst equally good as sobo soft drinks.. Smh! Apange run ma test bhobho… Read more »
This is the problem we have in SADC – there are all sorts of barriers – imagine you can’t buy Orange Sobo in Shoprite or any other supermarket in Chipata Zambia or hardly any other Malawian product for that matter. Trade barriers often under the guise of food safety are to blame. Malawi needs maize but Zambia has banned its export. The region will never develop. Only we find South African products and Chinese products everywhere. The poorer countries in the region need to trade with each other not keep buying South African Rands to import their food and beverages.… Read more »
MBS good job for this, personally I don’t like this drink, it contains more acid for sure.
If you don’t drink it, leave it. Who is forcing you? The thobwa on the roadside has passed through MBS, that’s Malawi – hypocrites!!!
Those who want to drink this “poison”can migrate to Moz. We are better off drinking thobwa and bwemba juice than raw sugar and acid disguised as a soft drink. Let them sell their poison in their own land. After all did they create this poison with Malawi as their prime market? There is no FROZY in Zambia or Zimbabwe or even TZ.
Penapake a MBS you need to be questioned. If its true of what you have found out, then their tests are not true !? Yap, there are procedures you are supposed to follow before the ban, did you follow them ? I suggests SOBO has really a part in this though with no evidence. Ku Malawi kukabwera product yomwe ikuchita bwino kugwetsa ma big companies akuno, timakapezera chifukwa ka product kaja. Monopolising the market, no wonder amangotitibula ndi dzi mitengo dzawo. Why not advising Frozy producing company to balance the standards of the drink. MBS do your job justifiably. Mocambique… Read more »
I support MBS’s decision in banning that product. Long before the ban people were complaining of high acidity levels in Frozy. The MBS’s test was just confirming Malawians observations. It is like most of these energy drinks (dragon et cetera) which have high acidity levels only that they are a bit expensive and ordinary citizens cannot afford them which is good. Malawians have a right to be protected from these scrumptious companies whose aim is to exploit Malawians of profits at the expense of bad health and weak labor force. I would not be surprised if the next item on… Read more »
Bring the quality products here. We are not the dumping place. Why should MBS even consult you, a company resident in Mozambique, when we have evidence in Malawi? The fact that people are drinking substandard things and they are not yet sick does not mean that your products are healthy in the long term and our population wont have problems in the future. Do the right think and bring back frozy, thats all.
Amwene mmamwa mazoe wa joni musatero apa. Infact nzambiri mmadya nkumwa zomwe amakutailani
The absence of war Is not the presence of peace just because no one has complained yet it does not mean that it is not harmful to the country’s citizens’ health. It is time Malawians became conscious of what they are eating and drinking. On the issue of SADC protocol I do not care about the trade protocol, if it is harmful to our citizens keep it out of the country just because we are poor doesn’t mean we cannot speak up. Even in the EU back in the day when UK was proudly part of the EU, France and… Read more »