The act is mostly practiced by greedy and unscrupulous businesspeople, who are only after making profits and at the expense of the health of the populace.
However, people should understand that selling expired food is not only a serious offence, but also detrimental to our health.
Time and time again the Food Safety and Quality Authority (FSQA) embark on routine food inspections around town to ensure expired food stuffs are off the vendor’s stands and our market. This is part of the institution's broader commitment and mandate to ensure food products that Gambians consume are of standard, pure and of good quality.
It is in the news that the Food Safety and Quality Authority (FSQA) revealed that 90.84% of the confiscated food products in 2022 had expired. This disclosure is indeed scary and of great public health concern. As a believer, people should always put at the back of their minds that even major faiths in the world warn against people engaging in such nefarious businesses.
This disclosure is important amid a surge in the alleged selling of expired food stuffs by some reputable businesses.
According to the Authority, a total of 17 businesses were closed last year for failing to meet safety standards, while 104 expired food products were confiscated. Those fond of doing this nefarious business should be smart enough to reason that even our moral values and teachings are against this act.
It is believed that some businesspersons have some sort of means of evading authority’s wrath, thereby continuing to make profit at the expense of public safety.
Just last week, a reputable supermarket in the country was all over social media for what is believed to be selling expired food stuff to the public. Once food is expired it is not fit for human consumption.
To this end, we call on the food inspectors from FSQA to ensure that all those found wanting face the full force of the law. We cannot allow businesses to operate with impunity by dealing in expired food commodities that have the potential to cause calamity. It is therefore incumbent on all to raise the alarm wherever this ungodly act is practiced.