Ramsaran’s not part of School Nutrition Programme

The boycott of Ramsaran’s products continues, and a petition to remove the brand from the School Nutrition Programme has already garnered close to 15,000 signatures.

A social media firestorm engulfed the company on Wednesday after the general election, when comments made by an employee and family member, Naila Ramsaran, angered social media users.

As a result, several leading supermarket chains pulled Ramsaran's products from their shelves.

The company makes and distributes a range of beverages, including juices and punch.

The change.org petition, started under the name I Reject Racism in TT on Wednesday, is appealing to the government to remove Ramsaran’s products from the programme, which is facilitated by the National Schools Dietary Services (NSDS), an extension of the Ministry of Education.

The petition, which came as a result of Ramsaran's comments, said, “We the citizens of this lovely multicultural twin island Republic, sweet TT, must condemn all forms of racism. Especially businesses inclusive of family members, investors and employees who choose to express blatant racist comments against any ethnic group.”

It said because of Ramsaran’s statement, the public did not “feel safe,” allowing children to consume the product and considered it a “national insult,” that taxpayers’ dollars supported the contract.

But Stacy Barran, CEO of the NSDS, told Newsday on Thursday that the programme no longer uses Ramsaran’s products. The Ramsaran company provided products to the programme in years past but has not been a part of it for a long time.