Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) has confidently assured members of the general public that Press Cane spirits or ethanols have been constantly assessed and certified by the MBS and that they are complying products that conform to mandatory applicable Malawi Standards.
In a statement released Tuesday signed by MBS Director General Symon Mandala, the Bureau said a recent online article where some two renowned Malawian health experts-cum-researchers accused MBS of allowing Press Cane to sell sub-standard spirits was misleading.
“The MBS finds the article and the referred research misleading and would like to assure the Public of its trusted, accurate, impartial and independent third-party conformance assessment and certification services that it has been offering on PressCane Ltd production unit, processes, and products in Chikwawa, amongst others, ever since the factory was about to start producing rectified spirits for distribution both on the local and international market.”
“We therefore, would like to hereby confidently assure the general public that the Press Cane spirits/ethanols that have been constantly assessed and certified by the MBS are actually complying products that have consistently been found to conform to their mandatory applicable Malawi Standards,” said Mandala.
“With due respect to our two renowned health experts-cum-researchers, and without prejudice, the MBS applied all the required conformance assessment criteria that accord stringent implementation of the mandatory Malawi Standard MS 573: 2007 Ethanol- Specification on Press Cane Ltd’s ethanol factory and products.”
“The public should also be reassured that the MBS periodically conducts factory audits/inspections coupled with periodical sampling and laboratory testing of Press Cane Ltd’s non-food grade ethanol products for their continued conformance assessment to this standard. Testing has always been done using approved testing standards, calibrated, verified and serviced test equipment that has been maintained as per requirements of laboratory quality management system based on MS-ISO-17025: 2005 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories,” added Mandala.
“In view of this, the public is assured that the competences of our laboratory personnel, suitability of the environment, equipment integrity, and performance of test methods are periodically assessed to ensure accuracy, conformity, reliability, and traceability of our test results to international standards.”
“It is through fulfillment of the above stated requirements and demonstration of competence that led to the accreditation of some of the scopes in testing and calibration laboratories of the MBS in 2018 and the status has been maintained to date. The Bureau continues to participate in proficiency testing and interlaboratory comparisons with testing facilities globally (SADC, USA, Europe) as part of quality assurance apart from implementing a series of quality control processes in its laboratory activities,” informed Mandala.
He advised the general public, the media, academia and all researchers that the Bureau is open to collaborate with individuals and organizations that desire to contribute to the process of standardization, quality assurance and metrology with a well-researched work that is premised on clear objectives, sound methodologies, sufficient relevant scientific data and logical conclusions.
“The MBS wishes to retaliate that certification of products and services is done professionally, impartially and objectively in our quest to promote standardization and quality assurance in Malawi and that includes products from PRESCANE Malawi Limited,” said Mandala.
