GEORGETOWN Mayor Ubraj Narine is cautioning residents to check for expiry dates on all products, since some major businesses in the City are in the habit of selling expired goods at a very low cost.

The mayor made the appeal after a number of businesses recently volunteered to surrender products that were expired.

At the moment, the laws governing the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) do not allow for persons to be charged for deliberately selling expired goods. But the City Council has been talking about instituting a stiffer penalty for those found culpable.

“Currently, we don’t have any penalties stipulated and in place. So our way of dealing with it is to recoup all the expired stuff. They would’ve paid for them so in doing that, if they would’ve expended large sums of money and we moved such large portions, it would serve as a lesson for the time being,” Chief Meat and Food Inspector Onica Alleyne-Blackman had told this publication.

During the month of April last, the M&CC reported that a quantity of expired grocery items was voluntarily surrendered by a business on Saffon Street, Charlestown, which was subsequently destroyed.

A whopping 1,282 cases of unsweetened orange juice were voluntarily surrendered by another major company. The juice, when sampled, was found to have an ‘off-taste’ and was therefore found to be undesirable and unfit for human consumption. This, too, was destroyed.

In another instance, 960 bags of chick peas (25kg) were voluntarily surrendered by a business in Werk-en-Rust which was found to be weevil infested and unfit for human consumption.

The mayor has pointed out that this practice can result in illness and other public health implications.

“His Worship commends the business owners who voluntary surrenders theses expired products and wishes to advise all sellers, manufacturers, marketers and producers of goods for public consumption, to desist from offering expired goods since this practice is unhealthy, unlawful and unacceptable,” the M&CC said in a statement.

In previous raids, the M&CC found that persons had been re-labelling items to feature a new expiry date, while others have been wiping out the dates from the product.

The Chief Meat and Food Inspector believes, though, that vendors are continuing with the practice because they are receiving support from customers. “I think some citizens are fully aware that some of these items are expired, but because of the price range, they willingly take the risk of buying these items. If they are not encouraging, persons would pay attention to the dates,” she opined.

She is encouraging the public to pay more attention to the dates on their products. “Ensure that you pay attention to the dates. Looking at the cheapness of the item and not your health is not the ideal thing. Many times, children have to consume these items and they are a vulnerable group. So the onus is on the adults to protect their children.”

Blackman said the notion that a product is good months after its expiry date is more of a myth. “The ideal thing is once the item would’ve come to its expiry date, it is not supposed to be on the shelf. I can’t validate that the product is still good after its expiry date, but what I know is that the date is your guide as to whether or not it should be on the shelf. After that date, it has no place being on the shelf.”