PHILIPSBURG--General Manager and Co-owner of Sang's Super Center Johnny Sang said the expired products dumped by the Health Inspectorate over a four-day period last week were not on the store's shelves, but in a "storeroom cooler."
The supermarket was found in violation of a number of health and safety regulations last week.
Food and Safety Department Head Inspector Michel Somersall had said that some items, including expired bread, were among items dumped from the supermarket during a routine control on food labelling, which had led to the bust. In addition to expired products on the store's premises, the Inspectorate had also said old and new products were stored together in its storeroom, which in itself is not a recommended practice.
Sang said the pictures provided to this newspaper by the department and published with an article on Wednesday, March 17, were misleading, as the items had been in the storeroom.
"Please be aware that this picture was taken not in the supermarket area, but in the back storeroom cooler, out of customers' reach, where we store all the outdated chilled products for write-offs and dumping. We have them there for some individuals who come on a regular basis to collect them to raise livestock on the island, like chickens, pigs and cows," Sang said in a statement issued on Thursday.
Sang did not respond to the inspector's allegations that sliced expired cheese had been placed in the store's deli the day after the store had been advised to dump it.
"You will not find chilled products on our shelves that are dated November 28, 2009. It is no reason for us to display products on our shelves that have been expired since November 28, 2009, because the customer will simply not buy them. So the picture published by the Health Department is misleading. We do not sell expired goods, period," Sang said, adding that the family-run business cared about its customers.
"We cannot let our customers down who have been shopping with us for the past 23 years. We are a family-run business with a reputation to keep. We are in the food business for more than 20 years and we are committed to serving the St. Maarten public for another 20 years," he said.
