Zanzibar, Tanzania (April 19, 2024) – The Zanzibar Food and Drug Agency (ZFDA) has issued a regulatory directive to local importers and distributors that mandates application of a cutting-edge security label on all medicines, cosmetics, hygiene and personal care products entering Zanzibar. The goal of the program is to fully arrest influx of counterfeit, substandard, expired and diverted products.

The program, called Kulinda Zanzibar, is being deployed in collaboration with a consortium of solution providers. Dr. Burhani Simai, ZFDA Executive Director, states, “We have been searching for several years for the best solution to solve the problems we are facing in Zanzibar with counterfeit and substandard medicines. We found the Kulinda program to be far superior to all others, and have therefore chosen it to protect our citizens and visitors. The ZFDA is committed to making Zanzibar the safest place in all of Africa against the threat to public safety from counterfeits, and we shall achieve that goal with Kulinda.”

A central feature of the Kulinda program is to empower consumers with the ability to authenticate their purchase right at the point of sale. The program will therefore require all saleable (customer-facing) product packages to have a Kulinda security label applied after entering Zanzibar and before they can be further distributed. ZFDA inspectors will be able to use a blend of authentication tools at any point in the supply chain to confirm program compliance. All importers and distributors must ensure they source their products from genuine manufacturers, whether brand owners directly or their trusted suppliers.

According to Mr. Alex Mujwahuzi, Director of Kulinda Zanzibar, “The protective program we are launching empowers all stakeholders, from consumers to inspectors, to instantly authenticate a product in the marketplace. A state-of-the-art traceability program further offers multiple value-additions to all program participants. The Kulinda program was developed specifically for emerging markets with a consolidated goal to ensure it is effective, economical and empowering.”

Each Kulinda security label is composed of two key components — a serialized QR barcode that underlies the traceability module of the program and a cohort of advanced digital and taggant technologies that support the authentication module. Together, these two elements make the label fully non-clonable and endow the program with the highest level of security currently possible. An inspector and, more importantly, an enabled consumer will instantly detect a copied version of the label placed on a counterfeit product. This expansive public empowerment feature promotes community oversight, instant interdiction and powerful deterrence at all levels.

The Kulinda solution was designed in Africa and customized specifically for use in Africa and other emerging markets. The labels for the Zanzibar program are printed in Kenya and Tanzania. An IT company, also based in Africa, delivers the digital backbone for the program. This focus on local sourcing of both product and technology, along with the excellence of the overall solution, was an important factor in Zanzibar’s decision to select the Kulinda program.

The ZFDA regulatory mandate is available on its website and provides detailed requirements that importers and distributors in Zanzibar must now follow: https://zfda.go.tz/zfda_guidelines