Jeddah Municipality announced on Tuesday that its inspectors had seized nearly 13 tons of rotten meat and other food stored illegally at a residential villa in Baghdadia district.

The municipality had launched a raid on the villa after receiving information from its licensing and food safety departments about suspicious activities at the house.

Bashir bin Mustafa Abu Najam, the general manager of the licensing and markets control department, told Arab News that inspectors monitored the villa for three days and then entered it with the aid of police officers.

“We found a number of violations including the illegal use of the residential villa as a storage and distribution center for food. It was also being used as a residence for workers, and had no proper hygiene controls,” he said.

He said the inspectors confiscated 12.8 tons of expired meat and other food, including 12,000 stickers with different product names, nylon bags, seals and devices for packaging items.

Abu Najam said the municipality destroyed all the food, confiscated the other items and sealed the place.

Jeddah Municipality has over the past two months closed more than 1,000 eateries, including five-star establishments, for failing to abide by health and safety regulations.