As part of a campaign to ensure the consumption of wholesome food items, the Government Analyst Food & Drug Administration (FDA) seized a quantity of expired good from shops and supermarkets in West Berbice.
The raid was carried out in collaboration with the Region Five Environmental Health Department at Bush Lot, Hopetown and Bath Settlement on Thursday, following reports from customers.
Among the items seized were a quantity of mayonnaise, canned peas and beans, cereal, margarine, juices, soup mix and potato chips.
The items were lodged at the Union/Naarstigheid Neighbourhood Democratic Council and were later destroyed before dumping. A health officer said that in most cases customers would not check the expiry dates for the items until they get home and afterward shop owners would not want to refund their money.
He warned shoppers to be on the alert for expired items and to check the expiry dates properly before buying. The officer said that unscrupulous shop owners would deliberately continue to leave the items on the shelves.
He added that a similar exercise was carried out at Bath Settlement two months ago and they revisited the shops and found that some of the businesspersons were still not complying.
They explained to him that the “harsh economic conditions” were resulting in the items not being sold even though they have cut down drastically from the amount they had been investing in. He has advised them, though, to offer the items which have a short shelf life at reduced prices before the expiry date reaches.
This newspaper examined the items and observed that expiry dates on some of them had been tampered with.
