PMID: 18181460Jan 10, 2008Paper

The sale of 'out of date' foods in the Republic of Palau

Pacific Health Dialog
Kristy McCreadie, Zina O Leary

Abstract

'Out of date' or near out of date' foods are regularly imported into the Palau from the US and Australasia. The sale of such food products has recently been recognised by Palau as a significant public health threat for both its tourists and local population. The aim of this study is to gather baseline data on the nature and extent of expired foods sales in Palau in order to aid the development of appropriate protocols for dealing with the issue. This study used observational techniques to take a cross sectional inventory of fourteen categories of expired food products across food retailers in the urban region of Koror. The study showed that out of date foods were found across all fourteen food categories in each of the stores sampled. Many products exceeded their expiry dates by over six months. Additionally, some product lines were only sold 'out of date' suggesting that Palau is a target for off loading such food supplies. Labelling was also found to be highly problematic with food products carrying a wide range of 'out of date' descriptors, no descriptors, no date following the descriptor, or descriptors not in English. Another issue was the tendency for the retailers to freeze imported fresh products without providing a fre...Continue Reading

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