GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Police recovered on Friday night a truckload of expired food products reportedly set for delivery and distribution to retailers in several villages here.
Maj. Patrich Elma, chief of the Makar police station, said on Saturday the expired products, composed of grocery items, were found abandoned at about 7 p.m. near a river in Purok Cabuay, Barangay Sinawal.
Elma said they included branded coffee packs, instant noodles, assorted candies, and various brands of pasta.
“The product labels showed that they were already past their expiration date. But some unscrupulous individuals are still selling them,” he told reporters.
Elma said they found the expired products after a concerned resident informed them that a tricycle driver had just delivered some of them to a village here.
Responding operatives later traced the tricycle, which was driven by Arnulfo Deleno of KPS-Zone 2 in Barangay Labangal, carrying seven sacks of expired grocery items, he said.
Elma said Deleno claimed that he purchased the items from an unidentified trader in Barangay Sinawal.
Operatives immediately proceeded to the identified site and found the grocery products but the supposed owners were no longer there, he said.
Elma said investigators were determining the possible sources of the expired items while follow-up operations are ongoing.
He warned residents not to buy any expired items, especially grocery or food products, as they could cause poisoning and other health problems.
Elma said the recovered products, which were considered to have no value, would be burned.
He said the tricycle driver would be charged with violation of Republic Act 9711 or the Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009. (PNA)
