Govt officials inspect food in shops

A RECENT public uproar throughout the country about fake products or expired, damaged frozen goods such as chicken or meat products being sold in shops has prompted the Department of Agriculture and Livestock to carry out an inspection.
A team from National Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority (Naqia) including chief scientist Alphonse Bannick accompanied Agriculture and Livestock Minister John Simon to Wewak, East Sepik, last weekend to carry out the inspection.
They were joined by environmental scientist Winnie Saigu from East Sepik health authority (PHA) and the police commander Albert Beli, who noted his support for this operation during a brief.
The team was there to carry out inspections and acquire samples of products or food items that could have been illegally brought in, or maybe be fake – items/food products that may pose a threat to human health.
This inspection will also allow Naqia to identify, if there are any infectious pests and diseases that have the potential to seriously harm PNG’s animal and plant life and affect economic growth.
According to Simon, imported goods which did not meet national standard, for instance, not having been properly declared or having labels written in foreign language without being translated, should not be on shelves.
“How can people know what they are eating if the labels are written in a foreign language,” he said.
Simon said there were many issues that had risen in the past on illegal items or imported products – although appropriate authorities continued to address these issues.
“We stand to be cheated and that could pose a threat to health as well as revenue – tax revenue is lost because of undeclared goods,” he said.
Simon said that he would ensure to involve all relevant agencies to address this ongoing issue taking into consideration the current coronavirus pandemic.
He said authorities needed to be proactive about the issue and take tougher stances to protect the country from such deadly diseases.
Meanwhile, the team conducted an operation on all major shops in Wewak – four canned products were identified without proper labelling.
The shops where these items were identified were warned.