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Exposed: Building full of outdated food items, rats and cockroaches
View(s):A major racket to redistribute expired food items –including baked beans, flavoured drinks, canned fish, noodles, cornflakes and fish sauce — for public consumption was busted in Colombo yesterday.
The warehouse where the outdated food items were found. Pic by Mangala Weerasekera
The Colombo Municipality’s Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) raided an insect-and-rat-infested Pettah warehouse of a company known as New J.P.S. Enterprises located at Old Moor Street, Colombo 12, and found a massive stock of food items which had passed their expiry dates.
Among them were about 1,000 damaged cans without labels. The collection was so large that the PHIs were counting the goods late into the afternoon. “All four floors of the warehouse were full of expired goods,” one official said. Among the items already counted were 384 bottles of mayonnaise, 96 cans of baked beans, 36 bottles of fish sauce, 125 packs of green tea, around 100 boxes of cornflakes and bottles of jam. All these items had passed their expiry date. Gunny bags packed with outdated instant noodles were also found.
“The warehouse was teeming with rats and cockroaches,” a PHI said. Colombo’s Chief Medical Officer Pradeep Kariyawasam said the building acted as a collection and distribution point for expired foods. “The items were to be sold to small eating houses,” he said. “The place has been sealed and we will file legal action.”
The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) last week seized more than 6,000 kilograms of chillie powder which had been made from expired chillie flakes from a mill in Mabole, Wattala. The CAA also raided the warehouse of a powdered milk company and found a big stock of cheese which had passed its expiry date.