The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has launched an investigation into Grandisync CC following the deaths of three children in the Eastern Cape after they allegedly consumed the company’s Howe Instant Noodles.
This as the company disputes it was its noodles that caused the fatalities.
On Thursday, acting commissioner Thezi Mabuza said, based on information provided to the commission by other regulators and the supplier, it had reasonable suspicion to believe the Uitenhage-based company “supplied unsafe goods or goods that posed a potential risk to the public”.
Mabuza said the commission is awaiting lab results and believes the investigation will help it “understand the nature, causes, extent and degree of the risk to the public”.
“Consumer safety is at the heart of the Consumer Protection Act. Should our investigation reveal Grandisnyc CC contravened the provisions of the act, we will refer the matter to the National Consumer Tribunal for the imposition of an administrative fine of 10% of their total annual turnover or R1m, whichever is the greater.”
Last week, Grandisync CC’s attorneys, Stuart Laubscher Incorporate, claimed the company had been wrongfully implicated.
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The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has launched an investigation into Grandisync CC following the deaths of three children in the Eastern Cape after they allegedly consumed the company’s Howe Instant Noodles.
This as the company disputes it was its noodles that caused the fatalities.
On Thursday, acting commissioner Thezi Mabuza said, based on information provided to the commission by other regulators and the supplier, it had reasonable suspicion to believe the Uitenhage-based company “supplied unsafe goods or goods that posed a potential risk to the public”.
Mabuza said the commission is awaiting lab results and believes the investigation will help it “understand the nature, causes, extent and degree of the risk to the public”.
“Consumer safety is at the heart of the Consumer Protection Act. Should our investigation reveal Grandisnyc CC contravened the provisions of the act, we will refer the matter to the National Consumer Tribunal for the imposition of an administrative fine of 10% of their total annual turnover or R1m, whichever is the greater.”
Last week, Grandisync CC’s attorneys, Stuart Laubscher Incorporate, claimed the company had been wrongfully implicated.
Approached for comment by TimesLIVE on Friday, the company said it stood by its earlier claims and its own investigation had found its noodles were not to blame for the children's’ deaths.
It called for the state medical report on the deaths to be sped up, and said it would release the findings of its own medical investigation into the matter once it was available.
Police spokesperson Col Priscilla Naidu told TimesLIVE on Friday the toxicology report on the children's deaths is still outstanding, and would not comment on the brand of noodles under investigation.
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