Kampala, Uganda: People of Uganda’s landlocked East African nation are in trauma after knowing the fact by the research of regulatory bodies about the existence of contamination and adulteration in popular beverages sold across the counter.
After getting the directions from the Parliament Committee on Trade, Tourism and Industry, two of their controllers started doing investigations, and the controllers are “the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and the National Drug Authority (NDA),” which they found that the popular carbonated and non-carbonated drinks and locally fermented tea called Kombucha were adulterated with alcohol and other drugs.
According to the findings of the NDA Executive Director David Nahamya,” there were four brands of Kombucha that were supposed to be non-alcoholic, but they contained alcohol, in some cases as high as 10.3 percent.
In the case of alcoholic kombuchas such as Kabody coffee, the alcohol content was 20%, exceeding the allowed limit of 15%.
According to Lawmaker John Ochan that the industries that had been adding concoctions to the drinks will be severely punished.
Furthermore, he added that they told the police, National Drug Authority, and Uganda’s Bureau of Standards in order to ensure that such a practice is brought to an end.
According to the official sources, 23 products were also found to be infected with drugs, including Mukama Nayamba, Power play, Sabarara Extra, Akaboozi, and Kabody coffee, famous for dealing with erectile dysfunction.
According to ‘Patricia Ejaru’ deputy executive director of the NBS that the industries had never told about the alcoholic content in their products.
“We conducted the regulatory body to take corrective action.
The Parliament ordered the National Bureau of Standards to cancel the licenses for most of the companies that make contaminated energy drinks in the country,” said Mwine Mpaka, who led the joint team of investigators that investigated the adulteration at the direction of the parliamentary panel.
After all the research, lawmaker ‘Gaffa Mbwatekamwa’ stated that he was investigating the choice of suing responsible agencies for allowing companies to persist in the production of products that are potentially harming the health of consumers.
Ejaru stated that the regulatory body has already turned into action and suspended the presentation of some of the adulterated products.
Plea to cancel licenses:
According to the Parliament’s instruction that the NBS cancel the licenses of companies engaged in producing harmful and illiterate drinks.
John Mukwasi is, a businessman in Mbale, called and urged the Parliament to ban unhealthy drinks.
He stated that It is good to see that Parliament has banned all drinks that have been found not suitable for the market. These kinds of drinks are considered a threat to our health.
According to Primary school teacher ‘Abbas Osili, 30, when she consumed the energy drink, she started sweating and was not even able to walk.
“I am a Muslim who does not drink alcohol. I got drunk after consuming the energy drink. I wobbled home and slept for over 10 hours.”
One of the industrialists that they had been counting concoctions to energy drinks at the advice of their chemists.
According to Henry Musama, manager of the company, “We are sorry to all Ugandans about our products which have been banned by authorities. This happened because of our chemists who provoked us to make the drink. They pointed us that the scopes were fine and are estimated to international standards.”
