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The NEWS (Monrovia)

Liberia: 'Foreign Particles' Detected in Nicom's Product

T. Michael Johnny

6 January 2009

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Monrovia — Floating foreign particles have been detected in a bottle of Gold Medal Gin believed to be distilled by NICOM Distillery located on Lynch Street in Monrovia.

The infested sealed up bottle of Gin in possess of this paper carries Nicom's Label and Cap with inscriptions, "Gold Medal London Dry Gin.

Notwithstanding, the Management of NICOM has denied that the bottle of the gin originated from its company.

Speaking to reporters at his office on Lynch Street yesterday, the Administrative Manager of Nicom, Joseph Zanger, denied that the bottle belongs to Nicom, arguing that some unscrupulous individuals were always bent on duplicating their brands.

Although the manager agreed that the labels and cap belonged to Nicom, he however noted that the product which is foreign particles infested and has the propensity to affect consumers originated from the company, and hence he stressed, this is "Not our brand of product."

Mr. Zanger: "Several of these cases are currently docked at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's standard division, and the security forces are on the alert to apprehend those culpable of the offense."

Strangely, the management further argued that in order to substantiate the infested product belongs to Nicom, this writer must verify through receipts from the distributor and the factory's laboratory test be performed to establish the origin of the products.

But, ironically, the Management during an interview established that the factory is using recycle bottles for its products with its workers manually washing them which are collected at random in street corners, garbage sites and other hazardous places.

Interestingly, the administrative manager divulged that the recycled bottles, washed by hands without the use of machines, undergo through phases before being used, adding that it is impossible to have foreign particles inside them.

But, consumer skeptics opined that with manual labor being employed to wash the bottles, it is possible that foreign particles may infiltrate, but the management says it is 100% sure that foreign particles do not remain in bottled products.

Although, the Nicom's administrative manager never disclosed the phases the recycle bottles undergo, it is however dubbed by environmentalists that recycled objects such as bottles and plastic pose weighty dangers to consumers' health, especially where manual labors are applied.

"Most of these bottles are obtained from garbage sites; they should not be recycled for human consumptions because they pose deviant health related problems to its consumers; the government and human rights groups should act now," a consumer indicated during an interview."

An in-depth investigation into recycled bottles and its effect on consumers would be discussed with health practitioners and published in subsequent editions.

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