Expired chicken taken off Tonga's shelves

Transcript

Repackaged chicken is being taken off the shelves in Tonga after a random inspection found poultry which expired in 2012 was being sold.

Viliame Manu, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, says the 800 cartons of expired frozen chicken came from an import from the United States.

Dr Viliame says the government has put out an emergency order to take all repackaged chicken off the shelves, and has set up a taskforce to deal with the issue.

VILIAME MANU: One of the health inspectors while checking one of the shops noticed this 15 kg carton of frozen poultry meat. And it was supposed to be expired in 2012. So they traced it back to the supplier and found a container with about 800 cartons. So they made a decision then to hold the cartons and that was about two weeks ago. And last week we had meetings with customs, quarantine, agriculture and ministry of labour and we decided to form a taskforce to look into this matter in detail.

MARY BAINES: So what's going to happen from now? Where to from here?

VM: The way it came in - it was found, it was a 40 foot container, the front half was a carton of poultry meat, it was supposed to be expired next year. But the other half at the back was all the old expired products. So we are looking at ways that every carton that comes through at the wharf will be checked at the wharf, right down to the back. And also the papers, the food health certificates that also accompany the containers have to be checked and rechecked.

MB: So where are these chickens coming from that are so old?

VM: The cartons came from the United States. We contacted the supplier and the supplier was very vague. I am sure it is not his fault, I am sure it was the buyer who was supposed to. He said he was only trying to, he was running out of supplies, so he wasn't sure his staff were filling up the order with expired products.

MB: At the moment in Tonga, are people able to buy chicken?

VM: They can buy, not repackaged, but in whole cartons. Because what they were saying that the expired products are being mixed up with good products and being mixed up in fridges in their shops. The advice from the ministry, is we have to go through a few steps, and the police wi;l be involved also to trace the exact location where the cartons went - whether it was destroyed or whether it was sold and repacked in retail. And that was the uncertainty at the moment.

MB: Is the public concerned about this?

VM: We had a consultation about it and the public, they were very concerned. The shops are complaining because they think they are going to lose and they are asking who are going to pay for the expenses. So that is another factor we are going to look into.