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AKARTA: The city administration will conduct raids on modern and traditional markets to prevent them from selling expired products during the fasting month and ahead of the Idul Fitri holiday.

The head of the city’s cooperatives and small and medium enterprises agency, Ratnaningsih, said on Monday that it was possible that Idul Fitri parcels contained expired food and beverage. “We are targeting stores that sell and produce parcels,” she said on Monday.

She said that the raids would be conducted without notice in both traditional and modern markets — including minimarkets and hypermarkets — throughout Jakarta.

As Ramadhan is often celebrated by sending parcels to business partners, co-workers and acquaintances, shops usually offer decorated parcels with various items inside. With the food neatly packaged inside the parcels, customers cannot check its quality or expiration date.

Ratnaningsih said that the raids would also target products being sold without permits from the National Drug and Food Monitoring Agency (BPOM), without labels written in Indonesian and without expiration dates.

She said that if such products were found, her office would confiscate the items and also withdraw the products from circulation.

According to her, the Jakarta administration will cooperate with several other agencies in conducting the raids, namely BPOM, the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI), the Health Agency, the Maritime Affairs and Fishery Agency, the Industrial and Energy Agency and the Police.