Wednesday, October 08, 2008 CH market team swoops down on vendors selling expired goods
CEBU City Market Police personnel swooped down on makeshift stalls along Calderon and Manalili Sts. at dawn yesterday, confiscating assorted expired goods that were reportedly patronized mostly by carenderia operators and mobile food vendors.
They acted on information received while the Market Operations Division was monitoring the Carbon Public Market for the presence of imported milk products, particularly those from China.
The seizure of seasonings, salad dressings, and various ingredients, along with stinking meat and hotdogs, and even baby diapers, raised concern for the health of those who may end up consuming or using them.
Health risk
Initial investigation by City Market Administrator Raquel Arce showed that the seized items were from Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City, where somebody allegedly gathered all expired products and sold them to interested vendors.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña, in a separate interview yesterday afternoon, said the City Health Department (CHD) must look into what Arce and her personnel discovered.
“The CHD should determine the health risk (posed by the sold goods),” he said.
Market Police supervisor Alberto Dacayana Jr. said that judging from the way those who bought the products acted before they struck, they were already long-time buyers from the vendors.
“Klaro kaayo nga suki na sila ba kay midumdum na lang gud didto. Nag-ilogay gud, kay dili man ingon nga ihakyad tanan, anam-anam man,” he said.
Arce and the personnel monitored seven vendors as early as Monday night after they received information on their operations.
“We discovered their operations by accident. A vendor told us what are sold in the area are expired goods, not milk products from China,” he said.
The vendors were all from Mandaue City.
Rotten
Arce said they decided to act especially after seeing re-packed junk foods and items like gelatin, bubbles, marshmallows, and chocolate products whose expiry marks were intentionally defaced.
The rusting cans of evaporated milk also had their paper covers removed and the stamped expiry marks rubbed clean.
A CHD sanitary inspector who checked on the goods, particularly the 10 kilos of ground pork and packs of “chicken hotdogs,” said the seized items were not even fit for animal consumption.
Arce said they would have wanted to just turn the items over to the Cebu City Zoo. Instead, her office brought them to the City Department of Agriculture (DA) office for proper disposal.
Aside from the rotten meat, a spaghetti sauce foil pack from among the items already appeared bloated, apparently because of trapped gas produced by the decayed contents.
The gas eventually escaped, the smelly contents slowly spilling out, while Arce was still being interviewed by reporters.
Thrown
She said there were also pails of catsup and fruit cocktails that when stirred, gave off such a pungent odor they were forced to throw them away instead of including them among the items that were turned over to the City DA.
The seized items were sold at considerably cheaper prices, which Arce said served as a come-on for buyers.
The repacked gelatin, for example, which can be had in retail stores at P1 each, were sold at only P5 for 12 pieces.
According to the written price label, a big can of margarine, which expired last August, was to be sold at P12 each; while a small can of a similar margarine can be had in sari-sari stores at P16 each.
Arce said nobody claimed the confiscated items.
But she instructed the vendors to go to her office if they want to be refunded their capital in exchange for cooperating with her office, which will also give them their own sidewalk space.
So far, no one showed up to help, she said yesterday afternoon.
They wanted to get more information as to the identities of the persons from whom the vendors got the spoiled goods.
She said that while there could be an anomaly somewhere in how factories dispose of expired products, it appears that somebody intentionally gathers them to be sold elsewhere.
She said that if the seized items were from Mandaue, and the vendors hail from there, there is a high probability that the expired products are also sold there.
Arce said she could only keep watch over her jurisdiction, which is all 10 Cebu City public markets.
Requirements
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu will require inspections by the Bureau of Food and Drug (Bfad) before releasing food products to consignees to prevent the entry of contaminated food products from China and other parts of the world.
Port of Cebu Assistant Assessment Chief Florante Ricarte said that aside from the inspection, they will also ask the importer to submit the license to operate of the importing firm and the Certificate of Product Registration for the goods being imported.
Both documents are issued by the Bfad.
He said that once Bfad approves the release of any milk shipment or other products, the Port of Cebu will allow the consignee or the customs broker to file an import entry and pay duties and taxes.
Ricarte said they involved Bfad because the BOC had no capability to determine whether these products are contaminated or not.
As for imported chemicals, Ricarte said they refer these to the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit for clearance and to check if the shipments would not be diverted for illegal use. (RHM/EOB)
