JEDDAH, 2 May — Anti-fraud officers from the Commerce Ministry have seized 118 tons of contaminated baby milk from a warehouse belonging to a local establishment.
A ministry official said an anti-fraud squad raided the warehouse after receiving complaints that rats and other vermin breeding in the warehouse had been swarming households in the neighborhood.
The team found large quantities of contaminated food items stored in unhygienic conditions on water-logged floors and surrounded by hordes of vermin, said Muhammad Al-Harbie, director of the Commerce Ministry’s branch in Jeddah.
The officers seized and destroyed 7,000 cartons of contaminated baby milk. Al-Harbie said the baby food cans showed a sell-by-date four years ago. The punishment for practicing commercial fraud, which included selling commodities after their date of expiry, included three months’ imprisonment and fines of up to SR100,000.
A Civil Defense official in the area said his office received repeated complaints from residents in the neighborhood of a warehouse which they suspected of being unhygienic. They said unusually large numbers of rats and other pests had been coming out of the warehouse and infested the area.
Contaminated milk is likely to cause intestinal diseases in children, said a pediatric specialist, Dr. Hatem Mahmoud. He added that food items passed expiry date should be subjected to laboratory analysis to determine the extent of damage they might cause to public health.
Col. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, director general of Civil Defense in Jeddah, said commercial warehouses inside residential areas should be dismantled but some of them manage to dodge the regulations. Some establishments rent residential apartments to store their goods in order to divert the attention of investigating authorities.
Meanwhile, the ministry's branch in Madinah has stepped up its drive against Patchi sweets carrying Barbie pictures. Large quantities of sweets with the picture have been seized from several shops, reports said yesterday.
Officials also impounded a large number of wrist watches, which were imitations of famous international brands, Abdul Aziz Al-Mugharbil, director of the ministry’s branch in Madinah, told Al-Bilad newspaper.
