With continuing shortage in supply of potatoes faced throughout the country, the Consumer Council of Fiji is advising consumers to be cautious when buying potatoes – watch the price as well as the quality.
The Council’s call comes after a consumer found a stone, resembling a potato in size and colour in a 2.8 kg pack from a Supermarket in Suva.
The stone was so similar to a potato that the consumer could not tell the difference when he had it weighed before paying $4.69.
After few days, when his mother opened the plastic bag she realised that it was a stone that made up the weight which her son paid, instead of potatoes.
The Council liaised with the supermarket management regarding the case, who agreed to replace the ‘stone-potato’ with a 3 kg pack of real potatoes.
While, this would have been one of an incident, consumers are reminded to check the items properly before buying them.This is especially when there is limited stock of potatoes in most of the supermarkets in the country.
The shortage of potato is a result of adverse weather condition that led to poor growing and harvesting conditions in New Zealand.This is where Fiji imports most of its potatoes for its domestic use.
Ms. Premila Kumar
Chief Executive officer.