To comply with storage norms: Prof Fuh Calistus gives six-month ultimatum to whisky companies.

The ultimatum was issued by the Interim Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry. 

This was on Day Two of his five-day working visit to some industries in the Littoral and South West Regions. 

The visit is intended to assess the compliance of certain companies to the standards and norms of the sector and take stock of challenges faced by the operators. 

It is also aimed at fighting against the phenomenon of sachet whisky and counterfeiting drinks, in order to guarantee the quality of products placed on the market.

Following the visit to the production plant of Fortune Industry Ltd on Monday, the minister proceeded on Tuesday to inspect another whisky production company, MACMOHAN Industry Ltd. 

Speaking during the inspection visit, the minister frowned at the mass usage of plastic storage tanks in the processing and storage of whiskies, which does not comply with the norms.

According to the minister, the usage of the plastic tanks poses a serious health danger for consumers and volatile to hazardous occurrences. As a result, he has ordered all companies in the sector to migrate from the usage of plastic tanks to stainless steel storage tanks which, he said, are the preferred choice for top quality, durability, custom applications and also meet all strict standards.

“When I look at the results here, a lot of small issues are coming up because of where you are putting the product… So nobody will use plastics again,” he said with a stern look. 

“We give you six months to migrate from plastics to stainless steel tanks. That is the only thing that can support whisky...,” the minister added.

He further warned that companies that do not conform will be shut down until complete switch has been made. 

“You have issues with the quality of drinks not just because someone tampers with it but because of the treatment process,” he attested. 

Further sanctions loom over companies

Just as the previous day of the working visit, samples of drinks were collected for further lab analysis on the percentage of alcohol and sucrose in the drinks, as well as arsenics, which are detrimental to the health of consumers.

“It is frightening to see traces of arsenic in whiskies,” the minister began, before adding that “when we are done with our analysis in the lab, if we confirm arsenics, sucrose of 60%, tomorrow we will not tolerate that”. 

“We have taken samples from the factories, so someone will not say the results are from another products,” he further stressed, before assuring companies that analysis will be done in two or more standard laboratories before confirmation of results in view of administrative sanctions.

It is for such reasons that the Minister is being accompanied through out the working visit by the Acting Director General of Cameroon’s Standards and Quality Agency, better known by the French acronym, ANOR, Chantal Andely née Ndomo Ndongo.

Reminder on ban of sachet whiskies

The visit also provided an opportunity for the minister to remind operators of the whisky sector on the ban on sachet whiskies, which will go operation from 2026. 

He pointed out that companies must put in place a strategy to replace the plastic packaging of whiskies with bottle packaging. 

According to the member of government, there will be no period of grace or exemption for any companies that will fail to conform to the different norms. 

“You have to do statistics of the number of equipment of each company, so that by 2026, all equipment should be in place according to the norms. If an operator wants to return to their country of origin, that’s okay but if not, they have to comply with the norms, else we would not have done our work,” the minister told his collaborators as he threatened to shut down companies that fail to comply. 

“The two products can’t be circulated at the same time. When you stop with the sachet whisky, it will only be bottled whiskies,” he added. 

Also assesses CIMENCAM

Earlier during the day, the minister and his delegation inspected the facilities of cement producing company, CEMENCAM, at the Bonaberi industrial zone. 

There, the minister was visibly impressed with the deployment of innovations to drive innovative and sustainable building solutions.

He, however, expressed government's concerns and efforts to reduce the price of a bag of cement in Cameroon. He cited, amongst others, consultations with stakeholders like CIMENCAM on the impasse over the export of clinker to Chad and the setting of the price of clinker.

Given Cameroon's richness in pozzolan and limestone deposits for the manufacturing of clinker, the main input in the cement manufacturing process, the minister said government wants to see a bag of cement sold for about 2,000 FCFA like in Burkina-Faso and Niger.

Given the need for clinker to meet the national cement requirement, estimated at 3,600,000 tonnes per year, he said the Head of State had signed two marble (limestone) mining permits for CIMENCAM in February 2023, with a view to drastically reducing the fragility of Cameroon's cement plants due to their exposure to external shocks, in particular the import of clinker. 

As part of the implementation of the import-substitution policy in the cement sector, he said measures are also being taken to further promote the production of ecological cement, in line with the production process of the CIMPOR Cameroun cement plant in Kribi, or the CIMENCAM Nomayos plant, which uses more clay than clinker, with intermediate consumption reduced by at least 25%.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3268 of Wednesday October 23, 2024