Ajman, June 18: The Ajman Municipality on Thursday cancelled the trading licence of a foodstuff company and slapped a fine of Dh50,000 on it for selling expired products at low prices.
The items were bought from another company whose store was destroyed in a fire recently. The second firm was fined Dh30,000.
Majid Nasser Al Suwaidi, head of the Inspection Department, said the general trading company located in Al Rashidiya area was illegally selling old, stale food at 60 per cent discount.
“A fine of Dh50,000 was slapped on the violating trader whose trading licence was revoked. This trader was knowingly displaying expired food for profit without bothering about public health. We have seized all food products displayed at the store and found out that he had bought them from a company whose store was gutted recently,” Al Suwaidi said.
The malpractice was detected by a municipal inspector who found many customers queuing up in front of the store one morning. “Many customers were coming out of the store after buying the expired food. On entering the store, the inspector found food products scattered all over the place. When the inspector asked about the source of the displayed products, he was told they were procured from another store that caught fire recently”
Al Suwaidi said the store was immediately shut down. The food samples taken for laboratory testing proved that the products were unfit for human consumption. “A fine of Dh30,000 was imposed on the other company which sold the products. This company did not even have a proper warehouse for storage.”
–Agencies