Coronavirus and sachet milk manufacturers

This is a suggestion for producers of sachet milk and other similar products. During this period of growing infection rate of the coronavirus, I think it would be necessary to highlight the importance of making products such as sachet milk easier to open by making slits on the top edge/s of the sachet, to prevent people from attempting to open the sachet using their teeth.

It is all too common for one to open his sachet of milk using his teeth, momentarily forgetting about the possibility of getting infected with the coronavirus. The milk sachet is usually likely very much touched by the hands of different people before it gets to the final consumer. When money exchanges hands during the process of selling the milk, the hands are not usually washed beforehand. Also, it is possible that the retailer might sneeze or cough into his hands while handling the milk sachet, or displaying it for sale, and not wash his hands thereafter. There is also the possibility that even the money that changes hands during sales might have been touched by someone who has coughed or sneezed into his hands, before handing the milk sachet. And then, one who has bought a sachet of milk and is trying to make a cup of tea would usually absent-mindedly attempt to open the milk sachet with his teeth. This is all too common, especially among children, and even adults too.

Therefore, it could be important for the milk manufacturers to make a little cut/slit on the top edges of the milk sachets, which can make it easier for the users to open using their fingers, instead of their teeth. I have noticed that this is especially true for the Loya brand of sachet milk, by Promasidor Nigeria. Even though it is a very nice tasting, rich, creaky milk, it has no slit on the top edge(s), and can be very difficult to open without using one’s teeth or a knife. After.

I made this observation; I have even tried of recent to contact their customer care via phone call, email, and feedback on their website (promasidor.ng) to make this suggestion to them. But all of my efforts to get across to them gave not been successful, as the email address on their website is not functional – all my e-mails were returned, undeliverable. My calls to their customer care line (which is printed on the Loya milk sachet) met with an auto response asking me to leave a message, along with my contact details, and I didn’t find any feedback form on their website. So, I just thought to write my suggestion to a newspaper, so that they and others who manufacture similar products could make any needed changes/improvements to make it easier and safer to open their products, especially with the current wide spread of the coronavirus.

I hope they consider doing this.

Daniel Ighakpe, FESTAC Town, Lagos

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