Libya’s Food and Drug Control Center announced the temporary closure of several dairy factories in the city of Gharyan. This came after five children suffered from food poisoning due to consuming expired homemade milk.
The Spokesman for the Center, Mohamed Al-Zayyat said that they “analyzed samples from factories in the Al-Hira area, and it became clear that they contained materials unfit for consumption.”
They found that the “dairy products do not meet the standard specifications, health requirements, and sterilization methods in the factories.”
Al-Zayyat noted that the center ordered the destruction of spoiled milk, after it was subjected to improper storage.
Recently, many cases of spoiled food, including meat and fish, have been detected in various Libyan cities, during campaigns launched by the Food Control Centre.
People have noted, “a fear of an outbreak of diseases, as a result of their inability to distinguish spoiled meat and food.” Some of them said that they “do not trust much of the food put on the markets, but they do not have any alternatives.”
A resident of Tripoli, Abdul Qadir Al-Jabali confirmed “The phenomenon of spoiled meat has become rampant in Libyan markets, and imported meat is sold as local meat at exorbitant prices. We do not know how this meat is supplied, and whether it was examined by the health authorities before permission was given for its sale.”
He added that “the campaigns launched by The Food Control Agency showed great government inaction,” noting that “the large quantities of spoiled meat require the government’s intervention to declare a state of emergency, launch wider campaigns, and control the markets.”
“These spoiled foods result in the spread of serious diseases, and would eventually lead to death.” He called on the concerned authorities to “publicly control the market by bringing those who sell spoiled food to justice, and imposing sufficiently dissuasive sanctions against them.”
Earlier this month, the Libyan Ministry of Health announced that 60 people were rushed to hospitals and private clinics in Zawiya City, west of Tripoli. This was due to acute food poisoning after eating rotten chicken in a restaurant.
The Ministry’s media office indicated that the Director General of Al-Zawiya Medical Centre, Osama Sarkis confirmed that 45 cases of food poisoning had been received as a result of food contamination in the city.
He added that at least another 15 other cases are receiving treatment in several private clinics inside the city.
The official indicated that there were three critical cases, and stressed their full readiness to receive any emergency cases.
