Expired products from China: FCCP shuts down Supermarket in Abuja

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has close down Panda Supermarket in the Jabi area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for illegally importing and selling expired products in Nigeria.

Speaking with journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, the Director-General of the Commission, Mr. Babatunde Irukera said the Agency got information that there was a supermarket in the capital that was discriminating against other nationals.  “When that information was confirmed, we conducted a sting operation “he stated

Upon conducting the sting operation, Irukera said at the front door of the supermarket (Panda), there was an inscription ‘Employers Only’ while inside the store, FCCPC found many products whose expiring date was 20 years from now, someone year while other had no expiring date at all.

He said apart from these products not having any realistic expiring date, they also did not have any NAFDAC number “which means they do not pass through NAFDAC” he noted.

Irukera lamented that the sale of contraband and expired food items is very disturbing especially at a time like this and especially when the products are coming from Asian countries.

“You know, the biggest issue we have now is the coronavirus and there is sufficient information to show that it started as an animal to animal transfer and now animals to human beings, especially wild animals.

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“The origin of it is seafood from a district in China. We’ve got a lot of seafood here and we don’t know how it came in. We are seeing all kind of things and that certainly violates the laws in Nigeria.

“Some of the products are developing mold even in the refrigerator. There’s a huge cold room there with expired products showing that the products will expire in 2073 and 2089,” Irukera added.

The DG listed some of the expired food items to include pork, rice, mushrooms, chicken, gizzard, among others.“We found out that the toilet are used as stores for the food items and certain things that were wrong here. So we will be closing the place down,” he said.

FCCPC sealed off Panda supermarket on Tuesday 28^th of January, 2020.