TINS of a popular malted chocolate drink bearing expiry dates of December 1980 were being sold three years later in some supermarkets in Ba.
According to an article published in The Fiji Times on February 7, 1983, Justice of Peace, Bill Obed of Ba purchased a can of the drink which bore an expiry date of December 4, 1980.
The article stated that even before that date, Mr Obed noticed cans of the drink bearing overdue expiry dates being sold in supermarkets.
He then wrote to the Central Board of Health drawing attention to the expired products.
But he said there had been no reply and the drink bearing expiry dates were still being sold in Ba.
“I know that if it was good indefinitely the manufactures would not put those expiry dates on it,” Mr Obed said.
A spokesman for SMI Brand Marketing (Fiji) Ltd, which was the drink’s agent until just before the concerns were raised, said the sale of the overdue cans was “something out of our control”.
“The shopkeeper shouldn’t be keeping it that long. That’s absolutely stupid and most unfair on the distributors,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the manufacturers had the drink medically tested in Australia which proved it was unusable 12 months after the date expired.
The medical tests were able to determine for how long the product could be used.
The spokesman said there were shipping problems which meant a consignment ordered for May could be delayed for several months.
“We could foresee this would happen, so we were fully equipped.”
But the spokesman was critical of any shopkeeper who kept the drink with 1980 expiry dates and still stocked them on the shelves.
“He has no right to keep it that long and sell it,” the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Mr Obed said he was raising the problem for the sake of infants, nursing mothers, invalids and others who consumed the product.
“Most of the people don’t look for the expiry date,” he said.
“As a citizen of this town it’s my duty to point out anything that is wrong.
“To sell it for one or two months after the date has expired is too long but to sell it two years one month afterwards is something else.”
He wrote to the CBH on December 14 the same year, stating that some supermarkets in Ba were selling tins of the drink with expiry dates of 1980 and 1981.
“If you consider that such stale stock is not fit for human consumption, you may care to take necessary action to have such stock removed.”
