FILE PHOTO: Trucks await clearance at the Nimule yard, Tuesday, 7 September 2021 | Credit | Daniel Deng

The Drug and Food Control Authority has called on the government to urgently establish a laboratory for testing imported pharmaceutical and food items.

Last week, the National Bureau of Standards revealed that the country is feeding on substandard food due to inability to examine imported goods.

South Sudan entirely relies on Kenya and Uganda for all of its imports.

These include basic market items such as tomatoes, onions, maize flour, rice, cooking oil, dairy products.

According to the Director of The Drug and Food Control Authority, the country lacks devices and equipment for testing imported food items and pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Peter Bak says the country has been depending on its neighbors for testing suspicious pharmaceuticals and food items.

“The country is lacking machines for testing food and drugs and sometimes we use our neighboring counties for verification. When we suspect something, we use Kenya or Uganda to verify what we suspected,” Dr. Peter Bak told Eye Radio.

“Sometimes when we make a market survey, we select items and send them to laboratories in neighboring countries.

“There is no machine we know, we don’t have the lab to test the medicine, and it is the government responsibility to set up these labs.”

Established in 2012, The Drug and Food Control Authority, is an autonomous government agency mandated to regulate the manufacture, supply, promotion and marketing.

It is also tasked with regulating advertising, distribution and use of drugs, poisons, chemicals, cosmetics, medical devices and food for human or animal use.