KUWAIT CITY, Oct 2: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry in its relentless work is determined to clean the markets of adulterated products, reports Al-Rai daily.

The daily added after restricting the markets for food, spoiled meat, and counterfeit goods of various kinds, the scope of work of commercial control inspectors has increased.

Informed sources told the daily the inspectors recently shut down two companies and their stores selling tobacco (molasses), one in Salmiya and the other in Al-Ardhiya, after they were caught tampering with the expiry dates of the molasses prepared before putting the products for sale, indicating that the two companies will be referred to the prosecution.

The sources indicated that the commercial fraud included all different types, flavors, and trade names of molasses, two tons of seized products had all expired in since 2021 and 2022.

The sources pointed out that “according to the field inspectors the violators had concealed the expiry date on the original boxes of the seized molasses containers, and tampered with it by extending other valid consumption dates, and then sold it to customers directly or to cafés.”

The sources explained that “the seized quantities and the method of manipulation reflected a clear case of tampering carried out by officials in the warehouses, in violation of the law and regulatory instructions regulating consumer protection and health.”

The sources stated, that “there are clear directives from the Minister of Commerce, Muhammad Al-Aiban, and Undersecretary Ziyad Al-Najem to all inspection teams in the ministry to increase inspection tours and restrict violators to the maximum possible degree,” noting that “the directives in this regard include working to intensify campaigns and expand their scope to include all consumer markets without focusing on one market at the expense of another.”