Unfit food for sale in markets

JUST THIS Saturday, my mom came home relating an incident at the market. There was a cart with 2lb packaged and branded sugar being sold for $100. Needless to say, these were going quickly.

Now since she buys packaged sugar regularly, she was taken aback at the price. Nevertheless, as she was about to buy one, she deduced that this might have been discarded sugar from the flooded warehouse on Marcus Garvey Drive last month. It certainly would suggest why that quality and quantity sugar was sold for that amount; it wasn’t good.

Now I will not suggest that my mother’s deduction was correct, but there is a greater concern. What happens to food deemed unsafe? How is it disposed of? What measures are taken to ensure that this food cannot re-enter a chain of supply? What enforcement is executed by the health department and the Consumer Affairs Commission?

Oftentimes, I have walked through ‘Back Market’ in downtown and seen vendors selling meats, chicken, chicken parts and processed meats from buckets and igloos. Sometimes these meats are discoloured! Far be it from me that this is safe.

Many times, I have heard that people rummage the dumps and collect disposed foods and sell it for prices well below market rate, which means they go quickly, either by unsuspecting, indifferent or destitute consumers. Now I hope that I am overreacting, but the idea that someone will sweeten their porridge tomorrow with sugar flavoured with flood waters is more unsettling.