The sale of 'out of date' foods in the Republic of Palau.
'Out of date' or near out of date' foods are regularly imported into the Palau from the US and Australasia.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 The study showed that out of date foods were found across all fourteen food categories in each of the stores sampled.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 Additionally, some product lines were only sold 'out of date' suggesting that Palau is a target for off loading such food supplies. Labelling was also found to be highly problematic with food products carrying a wide range of 'out of date' descriptors, no descriptors, no date following the descriptor, or descriptors not in English.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 freezing date, making it impossible to tell if they were frozen before expiry. Local foods were also found to have insufficient labelling and product information.
McCreadie
Kristy
K
School of Environment and Agriculture, Locked bag 1797, Penrith South DC NSW 1797, Australia.
Leary
Zina O
ZO
D003132:Commerce; D005502:Food; D005515:Food Labeling; D006801:Humans; D019029:Palau; D011634:Public Health; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013997:Time Factors