Authorities of Eastern Equatoria State Chamber of Commerce have on Friday conducted an inspection on the goods in the market.
The team included directorate of commerce industry, local authorities, Torit municipal council and law enforcing agencies.
The inspection came after consumers raised concerns that the kilograms of packaged goods are under weighed than the actual measurement.
Speaking to Radio Emanuel in an exclusive interview, director general in the directorate of commerce industry, Stephen Ihude Oduho says, most customers raised concerns of inaccurate quantity of food commodities than the one indicated on the package.
After the inspection, he says the team found out that goods like sugar, flour and rice weigh less than the kilograms written on the bags.
‘From the inspection that we carried, taking samples from every shop and weighing the basic commodities especially the maize flour which is packaged in various quantities plus the rice, the sugar, what we found out that the quantities according to the labels, they are not confirmed. When we weigh using our standard measuring instrument, we found the maize flour which is packaged and labeled 50 Kgs, I will say 95% of consumers are paying money for 25 Kgs instead of 50kgs’
Stephen appeals to the sellers not to take advantage of the current situation by exploiting consumers.
‘By this exercise, we try to rectify that nobody is allowed to cheat. Consumers are also protected to get what they need and we want to advice all the consumers, those who are listening that, if you go to the market and buy anything which is packaged, please tell the seller to weigh for you to confirm that it is according to the quantity you are paying for. Whether 50 kgs, 25 kgs or 10 kgs, he advises’.
Some sellers are also believed to have interfered with their weighing scales, measuring less than the intended quantity paid for by the buyers.