San José, Costa Rica – The Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Commerce through the offices of the Consumer Advocate conducted a market check of supermarkets specializing in the sale of Oriental food items with the purpose of measuring compliance with current labeling standards.
The study included the inspection of 10 supermarkets located in San Jose identified as: Distribuidora Hong Kong, Supermercado Asia, Distribuidora Universal, Super Han San, Super Sony, Super El Puerto, Supermercado Da Xing, Supermercado Los Angeles, Importadora Ancyfer and Supermercado 88.
The field work was carried out by officials of the Department of Consumer Policy and Analysis from Monday the 23rd to Wednesday the 25th of April. A labeling analysis was performed on a total of 368 Oriental food items.
“Such studies aim to meet our objectives to ensure the protection of and the legitimate interests of consumers by implementing policies of preventive and corrective character in commerce, in order for compliance with consumer rights and the obligations of the carry trade and services,” said Luis Alvarez, Deputy Minister of Economy.
According to the data, 80% (8 supermarkets) of the visited shops had some kind of infraction of the rules for labeling and only 20% (2 supermarkets) offered consumers properly labeled packages.
The main failure was labels with information in a language different from Spanish.
“This situation threatens the health of consumers when products where it is not possible to know what they are used, what are the ingredients, what is your due date, what are the directions for conservation antre other aspects,” added the Deputy Minister.
