By Ezekiel Talatau
THE Honiara City Council (HCC) has called on businesses selling the ‘cigarette candies’ to remove them from their shelves, before action is taken against them.
This call follows recent media revelations that many Chinese shops in Honiara are selling candies which are created in the image of cigarettes and kept in packages which imitate cigarette brands.
This has caused parents to cry foul. One parent labels it on social media as a ‘cynical marketing strategy luring children to the habit of smoking’.
When Island Sun approached HCC Health Division for their comments, HCC health inspector Mr George Titiulu said that this is the first time someone has reported to them.
“Under the food product act, the food standard and labelling policy require full disclosure and accurate labelling, any advertisement of food that contains any words, presented with mislabelling are prohibited for being label and prohibited to advertise to customers,” said Titiulu.
He added that the product design and labelling are already in breach of the Pure Food Act 2010, under the regulation 24, section 1.
“The fine of such act charge is $1000.”
He said that HCC health division team will further investigate to ban this product in the future.
