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Traders’ meat almost consumers’ poison with 2,000 successful raids
View(s):Two weeks of raids in Colombo and the suburbs targeting adulterated and outdated food items, has culminated in 268 cases filed against errant traders and importers.
According to Public Health Inspectors’ (PHI’s) Union Secretary Senerath Bandara, more than 1,068 food categories that had their expiry dates lapsed, or were rotten, and unfit for consumption, had been discovered.
“The suspects will be fined under the Food Act, and the stocks destroyed,” he said. Court may also decide to impose fines, depending on the quantity of goods found to be harmful for human consumption. The fine is between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10,000 per charge. He said PHIs were able to collect over Rs. 300 million as court fines in the first six months of 2013.
Consumer Affairs Authority’s (CAA) Deputy Director Asela Bandara said that all district CAA officers had been briefed on the possibility of outdated and adulterated goods entering shops in towns and villages.
“Colombo is the hub and, if authorities were able to recover thousands of kilos of rotten potatoes, onions and dried fish and hundreds of damaged and outdated tins of canned fish, the products must have been transported to suburban and rural areas too. Hence, we are strengthening our raids,” he said.
Among the lot of items recovered by the CAA in Colombo and the outstations and the Colombo Municipal Council’s (CMC) Public Health Department, during the festive season, were 4,000 kg of rotten dried fish, 3,000 kg of rotten onions, 2,880 packs of outdated cheese, 70 tins of outdated jack mackerel, 2,000 kg of outdated goraka, 6,000 packets of orange flavoured drink sachets and 900 kg of noodles.
“Such large quantities are not only for the consumption of those living in Colombo, but are also supplied to places preparing lunch packets, small scale food outlets and villages, where they are sold at a lower price,” said Mr. Bandara.
He said over 2,000 raids had been conducted during the festive season. The CAA had earned about Rs. 90 million in court fines from January to October 2013.