The date-expired food items include noodles, biscuits, beverages, rice, and ghee, among other things. Inefficient market monitoring, lack of awareness, and difficult geography among other things are said to be the leading factors for rampant sales of substandard food items in the district.
"Marketplaces in the hills are fast becoming places for selling defective food items," said Nara Bahadur Chand, chairman of Baitadi chapter of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI). "Traders from Tarai send food items to the hills as soon as it exceeds the shelf life," he added.
Food items imported from India through Jhulaghat border are also of poor quality, according to locals. According to Jagadish Prasad Lekhak, principal of Jagannath Multiple Campus, most of the items are either date-expired or without date of manufacture.
"Consumers are forced to buy sub-standard products at very high prices," said Chhabi Raj Joshi, secretary of Baitadi chapter of FNCCI. "Although local administrations are monitoring the markets time to time, the monitoring work has not been effective," he added. Retail stores in the villages are selling sub-standard products despite knowing about it.
According to Datta Ram Badu, a non-gazetted first class staffer at District Administration Office (DAO), Baitadi, such sub-standard products are sold more in rural areas than in towns. He said consumers themselves should be conscious and discourage shops from selling such products.
"Local administration alone cannot bring change. The public should become aware and inform the authorities if anyone is selling date-expired and substandard products," said Sagar Mani Pathak, Chief District Officer (CDO) of Baitadi.
Not only food items, but even medicines being sold here are date-expired, according to monitoring conducted by Department of Drugs Administration. Moreover, some shops were selling banned medicines.
The local administration has taken action against only one retailer in the district this year.
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