ILOILO CITY — The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Western Visayas on Wednesday apologized for the “contaminated” food packs released to some residents of Boracay island in Malay, Aklan.
The department assured that the incident will “never happen again”, said DSWD-6 Regional Director Rebecca Geamala in a press conference Wednesday.
DSWD has distributed 2,760 food packs in the island resort last week.
Geamala said that it was early morning of June 17 when she received reports that some families returned their food packs because they claimed that their canned goods were contaminated and they saw some insects in the rice packs.
She said that only seven food packs were returned and were replaced immediately.
The number was only .25 percent of the 2,760 food packs that were distributed, she said.
Each food pack has six kilos of rice and 10 canned goods.
The initial investigation showed that the contamination happened during the stages of handling and hauling of goods, said Geamala.
She said that the goods were all in good condition during the packing.
In fact, the expiry date of the canned goods is still September 2019, she said.
“Our warehouse staff and personnel who were assigned during hauling and delivery were already given order to ensure the quality of goods that we are releasing and that this must not happen again,” she said.
The food packs distributed last week was just the first batch of the about 12,000 food packs that will be distributed to families in Boracay island. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
