Low Quality Kicks Prigat Juice Out of Market

Ethiopia’s Food, Medicine & Health Care Administration & Control Authority (FMHACA) banned Prigat juice from the market and directed its manufacturer, Great Abyssinia Plc to halt production following its investigation of a complaint about unacceptable quality.
Great Abyssinia received a letter from the Authority written on January 1, 2016, informing it of the findings of laboratory tests. A culture of samples showed an average of 69 colonies of micro-organisms on total plate count (TPC), with some plates showing as many as 100.
“TPC is critical factor in assessing a manufacturing facility and its products,” said Gashaw Tesfaye, laboratory director of Conformity Assessment Enterprise. “Our standard is two TPC. Any product whose TPC is more will not make it to market.”
Ph tests also showed higher acidity at 3.31, where as the acceptable range 3.5 to 3.7, Gashaw added.
Great Abyssinia, was, however, back in production as of Friday January 22, 2015, claiming a verbal go-ahead from the Authority with an official letter to come on Monday January 25, but the Authority denied that.
The problem was brought to the attention of the Authority through its hotline from a caller in Gullele District, who reported a different colour and taste of the Prigat juice; the caller claimed that the juice made the people who drank it sick, according to Dagmawit Nigatu, Food & Beverage Inspector with the Authority.
PRIGAT is an Israeli juice locally produced by Great Abyssinia Plc. The Israeli manufacturer, Gat Foods & Israel Beer Breweries, has been in business for 70 years and is a leader in the beverage industry there.
Laboratory tests the Ethiopian Authority undertook in collaboration with the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise found problems in one batch of products, according to Geremew Tassew, food regulatory standard setting expert at FMHACA.
Following these findings the Authority ordered the manufacturer to remove juices manufactured in that entire batch from the market within five days and to stop production at its factory.
Great Abyssinia’s Managing Director, Lemma Gurmu, disagreed with the findings and the company did not remove any of the juices from the shelves because it claimed it could not find any product from the specified batch on the market.
Geremew’s response was that the Authority would conduct its own inspection in Addis Abeba and other towns to make sure of that. The Authority also indicated that it would ensure hygiene improved at the plant before Great Abyssinia resumed production.
However, Great Abyssinia is back in production. Lemma initially told Fortune that the FMHACA had issued a letter to it on Thursday, but latter said that the letter was expected to come Monday.
Abyssinia Coffee & Tea Processing Enterprise was established as a sole proprietorship with initial capital of 10,000 Br before it became a private limited company in January 2003, with 4.5 million Br capital. That was when it changed its name to Great Abyssinia Plc. It currently operates in four sectors, namely, Abyssinia Coffee, Abyssinia Tea, Abyssinia Springs and PRIGAT juice. The company has invested in packed tea, roasted coffee, and bottled water since it was established in 1990 with 10 employees.
Great Abyssinia which is well known for its mineral water product, Abyssinia Water, has been in the manufacturing sector for five years and has a production capacity of 100,000 bottles a day at its two manufacturing plants at Sululta and Ferensay It also produces other beverage products, coffee cola and lemon fresh, at these two plants, where it employs 400 people.
“We make one million Birr a day from Prigat sales. We lost 20 million Br when we stopped production for 20 days,” Lemma said.
Half a litre of Prigat juice is sold for 12 Br per bottle while a one litre bottle of juice costs 25 Br on the market.