Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Saudi Food and Drugs Authority (SFDA) shut down six water and food factories and 74 production lines in the last two months of 2017.

Abdulrahman Al-Sultan, executive director for media and awareness at SFDA, said the authority organized an inspection campaign during which officers visited 416 food factories and took 472 samples for tests.

“The authority also visited 157 bottled water-bottling plants and ice factories and collected 152 samples. It also visited 964 food products warehouses and distribution centers and collected 53 samples. The authority penalized 21 establishments for various violations and destroyed 1,449 kg of food products after their expiration dates were found to be manipulated,” said Al-Sultan.

He said the authority seized 8,860 water cartons produced without a license and seized 11.9 tons of food products that did not conform to the authority’s regulations.

“During the inspection campaign, 24 licenses were renewed, 18 applications of establishing food factories were received and 43 applications for registering food establishments were reviewed. The authority forwarded 10 cases of commercial fraud to the Public Prosecution,” said Al-Sultan.

He also said that the authority received 237 complaints and reports about violations during the period.

“The authority received reports from the Detection and Crisis Management Center that the dry milk brands Premium Care and Celia may contain poisonous microbes. In turn, the authority seized and destroyed 750 cans found in warehouses and withdrew 712,000 cans from stores,” said Al-Sultan.