The Minister of Health Hamad Hassan along with Lebanese authorities raided on Tuesday several warehouses that have been selling large amounts of expired chicken. Local media says it amounts to around 40 tons!
The warehouses, located in the Metn town of Zakrit, have been supplying supermarkets, shops, and restaurants with rotten products, some dating back 4 years!
“This is cancer,” said Health Minister Hamad Hassan, adding that the perpetrators must be punished.
Apparently, the busted poultry belongs to the Freiha company that owns the Lebanese Poultry Company.
It includes the popular brands Lipoul, Shuman Farms, and Diplomata, according to their website. Local news sources add that the brand Carry is also included.
These products will be withdrawn immediately from the market.
With the chicken found dating all the way back to 2016, a curious tweeter asked, “…where were the former ministries of health and interior?”
Back in May, the Economy Minister received several complaints via WhatsApp and on social media on the price of chicken breasts from Shuman’s factory. The ministry ended up seizing the chicken and closing the factory.
Knowing now that the overpriced chicken may have also been rotten only adds insult to injury.
People have been tagging the Economy Minister Raoul Nehme on Twitter and condemning him for not catching the scandal sooner.
Some are even accusing him of being part of the distribution of expired chicken when he sent the seized chicken to charitable organizations in May.
But according to Nehme, only the chicken reprocessed for nuggets, escalope, etc, was expired, not the chicken breasts.
This expired food bust is the biggest most recent one, however, unethical scandals like this one are not uncommon. They can be traced back to 2019, 2014, 2013, 2012, and the list goes on.
Perhaps Lebanese kitchens will follow in the footsteps of Chef Antoine who cut beef from the menu and swapped it for affordable veggies instead.
