‘Advanced’ expiration dates

Days after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” mercilessly ravaged Eastern Samar on Nov. 8, 2013, various relief goods and cereals inundated the impoverished region. And makeshift houses built from debris were soon everywhere, aplenty.

But to our dismay we discovered

locally manufactured canned sardines that were bloated, even though their expiration dates were still a good way off: best before 2016.

I surmise that the manufacturer/distributor must have advanced by several years the goods’ fitness for human consumption to keep them in the market or made a gambit that the goods would not bloat in due time. Or the wrapper may have been replaced with another expiration date.

Also, you may be surprised to

notice that the expiration date of many items in sachets/pouches that you purchase are hardly legible, that is, if there is any at all. It is insidiously concealed in a silver or blinding

portion that you would not notice unless you hold it against the light.

The Food and Drug Administration should fulfill its legal and moral duty to safeguard the health of the people, chiefly against drugs and medicines with “advanced” (already expired)

expiration dates, which are potentially fatal to consumers.

—FRANK C. CABANATAN,

Guiuan, Eastern Samar