When the nation was hit by the DCD
controversy several things happened. For
a few days Fonterra products were off the shelves. People also became wary of purchasing milk
powder products from New Zealand.
Maliban went on an advertising spree, claiming that they import from
Australia and that the Government of that country claims milk powder DCD-free
milk powder. Local producers cleared
their stocks. The demand for fresh milk
went up. The worth of milk powder and
indeed milk in general was debated.
With tests, claims and clearances,
the shelves were filled again, by and by.
But then, there was a sudden dearth.
It was not that people were sweeping the products off the shelves. They were not arriving at outlets. If the controversy had in fact dulled the
demand for imported milk powder products, this could not have happened. Then there was talk of increasing milk powder
prices. Then there were several cases where the Consumer Affairs Authority
found large quantities of milk powder being hoarded. It doesn’t take much to join the dots and
conclude that there’s a link between an anticipated price hike, hoarding and
empty shelves. Now it looks like all
milk powder distributors are in cahoots so they can get the right price.
Milk powder producers and
distributors make massive profits. They
spend massive sums of money on advertising.
They have no qualms about making exaggerated claims. Some deliberately use fear mongering as a
marketing tool to entice the gullible to purchase their products. They’ve even purchased insurance of sorts by
offering generous sponsorships to ‘professional’ bodies who then could be
counted on to express friendly opinion on issues pertaining to nutrition. Perhaps in desperation, New Zealand even
offered to help develop the local dairy industry. The last time someone tried
to do that, the Milk Board went bust and dairy farmers were put at the mercy of
a multinational.
There’s irrefutable proof that while
milk is certainly healthier than let’s say what’s dished out at fast food
outlets, it is not everything it is made out to be. What milk contains, the consumer can obtain
from other sources. We’ll die without
water but will get by without milk.
China has, for millennia! It
looks like the consumers have cottoned on to this inconvenient truth. Perhaps they’ve realized that a good cup of
milk-tea in the morning is more about habit than about necessity and that if
wetting the throat is what is needed, plain tea or just plain water would do
the trick. Or kola kenda!
The consumers are bombarded with
lies, not just from milk powder companies.
The information flow is structured in ways that are skewed against
consumer interests. The individual
consumer doesn’t have the contact or other capacities to lobby relevant state
authorities. They cannot bribe officials
in key positions. They cannot threaten
media institutions; ‘we will not buy your paper’ is a poor threat compared to
‘we will not advertise!’ Their contribution
to political campaigns, typically, is limited to a single vote. It’s different with big-buck companies. While commending the Consumer Affairs
Authority, the Ministry of Science and Technology as well as other state
agencies for keeping milk powder distributors on their toes, we have to
conclude that the state, overall, has a lot more to do before we can feel
safe.
Where are the regulations? Where are the mechanisms that ensure what is
put on the shelves is safe and wholesome?
Where are the effective labeling laws? Where is the ‘White Paper on
Ethical Advertising’?
Every citizen is a consumer and the
state has a right to operate as the overall ‘Consumer Protection
Authority’. It is hardly that. It is in the long term interest of all stakeholders,
milk powder distributors included, for the state to get its act together.
And it is not just about milk,
folks. Scan all the shelves in all the
supermarkets. Check all the products
that come in packets. See if you can
read what’s in the small print. Check if
you understand everything that’s written.
Go to a pola. Ask yourself if you can be certain that the
handsome fruits and vegetables are free of chemicals. Are those mangoes and plantains injected
with poisons to speed up ripening and look good on the outside, have you
asked? Do you ask yourself why there are
no flies buzzing over the dried fish and if this is because it is bathed in
formalin?
There’s a lot that the Government
can do. There’s very little that
consumers can do, but they can do their best and perhaps this ‘best’ should
include telling representatives and would-be representatives that they have to
take a stand on consumer issues.
msenevira@gmail.com
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