Check dairy labels, say farmers

Bloemfontein - South African dairy farmers urged consumers on Tuesday to make sure their dairy products were of local origin and standard.

"It follows after requests to the authorities over the past few months to investigate imported dairy products which did not comply with South African requirements," said Milk Producers' Organisation (MPO) CEO Bertus de Jongh.

He said local authorities had to act against several importers after it was found that the content and labelling of imported dairy products did not comply with local requirements.

An imported product containing vegetable fats, which was incorrectly labelled and sold as Danish feta cheese, was recently found.

"The MPO regards the matter in a very serious light, since consumers are misled and substandard products such as these can harm the industry."

De Jongh said in terms of the new labelling regulations, the ingredients of each product and the country of origin had to appear in detail on the label.