Check food expiry dates, buyers urged
Quezon City authorities are asking the public to scrutinize, examine, check and inspect the expiry dates of the food they are buying for the Christmas holidays.
Councilors Victor Ferrer Jr., Eufemio Lagumbay and Ranulfo Ludovica issued the warning as stalls, kiosks and stores in the city began to stock up with food items for the traditional Noche Buena and Media Noche feast.
The three noted that buyers are scouring food outlets in a bid to buy as many grocery items and foodstuffs for the holiday season celebration.
Ferrer said he sees nothing wrong with the advance purchase but warned the buyers should not be swayed into buying expired canned goods, processed meat products and similar items that could put the health of their families and guests at risk.
He asked the public to buy their grocery items and food products at reputable supermarkets, groceries and wet markets to ensure that they are safe for consumption.
The group asked the city government to create a special team that will run after groups that remove the labels of expired products before selling them off at bargain prices.
He asked concerned local officials and national government agencies to be “on their
Police are hunting for the killer of a 27-year-old man who was sleeping in a parked sidecar in Tondo, Manila, a police belated report said.
SPO4 Milbert Balinggan, case investigator of Manila Police District- Homicide division, identified the fatality as Julius Lerios, a resident of Area A, Gate 6, Parola Compound, Tondo district.
Lerios was sleeping in the sidecar on Gate 5, Area A, when a unidentified man approached Lerios and stabbed him twice in the chest.
Lerios’ father, Jaime, brought his son to the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center where he died.
Police said the body was brought to Sol Funeral Homes for an autopsy. (Analou De Vera) toes’’ in monitoring food items that are being sold.
“People especially the poor are enticed into buying food items for the holiday season at highly discounted prices. However, unscrupulous traders see this as the green light to tamper the expiry dates and labels of canned goods, ’’ Ferrer said.
Lagumbay said the public must check the expiry dates of the food items they are buying.
He said buyers should also be suspicious of processed meat like frankfurters, hams, bacons, hotdogs, longganisa, tocino, tapa and other Christmas goodies being sold at big discounts.
To ensure the high quality of food items, Lagumbay dissuaded the public on purchasing their needs in obscure and remote groceries and markets selling unlabelled or mislabeled products.
“The thing is getting only the safest food items at the most reasonable prices. Imagine what might be the consequence in getting contaminated food inside your children’s system,’’ he said.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has repeatedly warned the public against health concerns when eating expired food products.
Ludovica asked city hall to intensify the inspection of stalls, flea markets, groceries and supermarkets even in the most isolated places where these products are openly sold.
A vendor, who admitted selling expired items, said that consuming items after their expiry dates is still safe, saying his customers are aware of the products being sold in his stall.
“Alam nila na kakaexpire lang ng mga powdered milk, keso at butter na binebenta ko. Matagal ko na silang mga customer wala naman silang reklamo sa akin (My customers know that they are purchasing newly expired powdered milk, cheese and butter. They have been my loyal customers for so long but I haven’t received any complaints from them),’’ the vendor, who declined to be identified, said.
He noted that city authorities should run after big traders purchasing discolored pork, beef and chicken in bulk and selling them retail.
“May ibang nagbebenta ng karne na masama na ang amoy pero nagagawan ng paraan dahil binebenta ang maga ito ng may mga timplang panakip sa amoy at anggo tulad ng tocino, tapa, teriyaki at iba pang paninda, (There are shrewd businessmen who use foul smelling meats to make tocino, tapa, teriyaki and other processed meat products to hide its bad odor),’’ the vendor added.
The councilors said that they will charge the errant vendors, illegal traders and storage owners for possession of the contaminated meat products.