Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

The two baby foods recalled by the New Jersey- based Gerber Products Company on the weekend will not have any effect on business in the Caribbean market, local distributor Chas E Ramson Limited said yesterday.

The affected products, Gerber Organic Rice and the Gerber Organic Oatmeal Cereals ranges, said Ramson's marketing manager, Kelia Dunbar, are not marketed here.

In fact, brand manager for Gerber products at Chas E Ramson, Carolyn Sang-Downer, told Wednesday Business that the two products are fairly new additions to the Gerber line and that her company was still in the process of conducting market research on the local market to test the acceptance level of the products.

On Friday, Gerber, which has a worldwide share of 79 per cent of the baby foods market, issued a product recall for the two foods, saying they "may contain lumps of cereal which do not dissolve in milk and pose a potential choking hazard".

It added tha the company had received choking complaints, no other Gerber products are affected by the recall.

"We don't have these products in the island, so there is no need for worry," said Dunbar.

Sustainable demand

The brand manager sai the organic market is growing in Jamaica, Chas E Ramson opted to test the products acceptance to be sure it was putting in money in a market that had sustainable demand for the items.

"We believe we had to do more research to ensure we were ordering the correct thing for the market," she said.

Quizzed about the value of the Gerber market in Jamaica, Sang-Downer said that information was proprietary.

Chas E Ramson currently distributes Gerber cereal, juices, fruits, vegetable, the toddler line and the Care and Wellness lines which include baby bottles, thermometers, lotions and skin-care products.

International food company Nestlé's acquisition of Gerber Foods, which was announced earlier this year, has not affected the company's exclusive distribution deal Nestlé has a subsidiary operation in Jamaica.

"It's business as usual for us," said Dunbar.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com