A business in West Jakarta that sold expired food had a turnover of up to Rp 6 billion (US$436,200), police said on Tuesday.
West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Hengki Hariyadi said the police found that the company, identified as PT PRS, had been running the business since 2014 in Jakarta, Greater Jakarta, Papua and Medan in North Sumatra.
“Through our investigation, we found that their turnover was between Rp 3 billion to 6 billion [per month],” Hengki said as quoted by wartakotalive.com.
The police then seized 90,080 food items of various brands from three different locations — two warehouses in Tambora and Cengkareng in West Jakarta, and PT PRS' main office in Hayam Wuruk, Central Jakarta.
“The first location was a warehouse in Tambora, which was used to store and change the labels of the expired food packages, while the second one was the main office in Hayam Wuruk and the last was the warehouse in Cengkareng, used to store the expired foods [and prepare them] for delivery,” Hengki said.
He added that the case was brought to their attention on Feb. 24, and the police are still continuing to make developments in it.
So far, the police have arrested three perpetrators — the company’s director, and the heads of the Cengkareng and Tambora warehouses.
Furthermore, the Tambora warehouse did not have a permit to be used as a warehouse. Expired foods found in that location were not only local snacks but also imported ones from the United States and Australia.
“The investigation began when some people noticed strange tastes in foods they usually consumed. They bought them from popular supermarkets, and it turned out those foods were expired as the taste and the shape had changed,” Hengki said. (wnd)
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