DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 April) — Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he would prefer that the City Health Office name the two milk tea shops found to have allegedly stored expired milk tea ingredients, after a group said the news of the incident was already affecting sales of other shops.
Speaking at Sunday’s episode of Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa, Duterte said he would have preferred keeping the names of the shops as this would certainly affect their business reputation.
“Ayaw ko sana (I don’t like) but you know, in fairness to others selling the milk tea, dapat lang, kasi pati sila masuspetsahan (we should because the rest will also be suspected to have committed the same violations). You are deluding the public into buying something fresh when it is not, he said.
Duterte, deferred to the recommendation of the CHO.
He warned against a repeat of the incident, saying he would not only name the stores but clos them outright.
He said prosecutors could also intervene but added there should be a complainant.
As of last week, the CHO said it was still waiting for the recommendation of the City Legal Office if charges would be filed against the milk tea shops.
CHO sanitation chief Robert Oconer had earlier said “these are very famous stores.
Oconer said the sanitation office conducted a massive inspection of different milk tea shops following the death in Manila of two persons and the hospitalization of another after drinking milk tea. One of those killed was the milk tea shop owner itself.
The inspections started two weeks ago.
The department sent out 26 of its inspectors to conduct a thorough check of different establishments, including the milk tea shops in huge malls and Chinese stores that are selling these food products.
The CHO has coordinated with the Food and Drug Administration and has asked mall managers to supervise their tenants to augment the capacity of the city’s own inspectors. (MindaNews)