The Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) decided to suspend the production of the apple juice product of the International Company for Agriculture Industry ‘Beyti', according to a Saturday statement. The agency also decided to prohibit the product's trading in the market until the closure of investigation or the issuance of a verdict in the matter. CPA had monitored the frequent news and clients' warnings over social networks regarding the a change in the taste of the ‘Beyti Tropicana' apple juice, while the company secretly withdrew the product from the market, said CPA's head Atef Yaqoub. He added that once the CPA formed a joint commission, with members from the investigation directorate at CPA and the Industrial Control Authority (ICA), in order to examine the product in the factory's headquarters located in the Beheira governorate. The commission met the production line manager of the factory and found out that the company withdrew the product from the market on the 23 August due to consumer complaints, as the company analysed the product and witnessed a change in the taste, Yaqoub said. As a result, the commission took production samples to analyse at the Food Department of the ICA, Yaqoub added. As the moves are violations under Articles numbers 1, 7, 19/2, 24 of the Consumer Protection Act No. 67 of 2006 and Articles 19 and 20 of its executive regulations, the matter was presented to the CPA's board of directors, which decided to suspend the product. Yaqoub added that the CPA has referred the company to prosecution due to its non-compliance with the requirements of the Consumer Protection Act, as the company did not notify the CPA once they found out the defect in the product and tried to secretly withdraw it from the market, violating of Article 7 of the Consumer Protection Act.
