Expired products destroyed

KIGALI - Authorities in Kigali City have discovered about 2348 cartons of expired Nestle powdered products, imported by Benalco Company. The products were subsequently destroyed at Nyanza garbage site in Kicukiro on Wednesday. Officials said the company which is an agent of Nestle International in Rwanda was found with such lucrative products most of them with consumption dates expired in 2006. The invalidity of such products whose monetary value could not be easily ascertained came to light when concerned authorities discovered that the consumption dates had long expired. We discovered it following the enquiry in 2005 which showed incidents of infected foods served at Parliamentary Building, said Peter Murejuru, the head of Great Lakes Property Protection and Reinforcement Company (GLPPRC). The food was served to participants at the National Dialogue Summit that year. Murejuru who oversaw the products’ destruction at Nyanza garbage site in Kicukiro District, said the crackdown was jointly carried out by various parties including GLPPRC, Rwanda Revenue Authority and the Rwanda Bureau of Standards. Meanwhile, Benalco has been allowed to continue its operations but cautioned to always be vigilant on the products they have in stock especially about the dates of expiry. The reason the company was allowed to continue its business was because the expired products had not been supplied to the market. This was after authorities who raided the company stores learnt that the outdated nestle products had not yet been introduced in the market, thus no threat to human health. A representative from the Nestle International regional office in Kenya, said there were no outdated products deliberately supplied to Rwanda. Benalco’s chief, Constantin Fragakin, declined to comment, only asking: Why are you interested in loss we have incurred, do you think such information is useful to your clients? Ends