Around P600 million worth of expired frozen meat, some of which were allegedly being reprocessed into siomai and hotdogs, were seized at a cold storage warehouse in Meycauayan, Bulacan.

In John Consulta’s 24 Oras report on Wednesday, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Central Luzon Regional Office agents  armed with a search warrant, raided the warehouse that held boxes of imported meat products— many of which were rotting, moldy, and unfit to eat.

According to an informant, the company that owned the rotting meat had devised a scheme to disguise the expiration dates of the products. Investigators found that some of the expired meat dated as far back as 2020.

“Marami nang black spots, may inaamag na, may inu-uod na talaga. Para ma-save nila ‘yung kanilang produktong expired ay nirere-process nila, they are re-labelling the products to make it appear na hindi pa ito expired. Gini-grind at ginagawa nilang siomai, hotdog,” said Atty. Aires Manaloto, NBI agent on the case.

(There were black spots, some had mold, and infested with maggots. In an effort to save their expired products, they were re-labeling them to make it appear that they were still safe for consumption. Worse, some of the expired meat was ground up and turned into siomai and hotdogs.)

NBI Central Luzon Regional Director Jun Carpeso said the situation posed a serious health risk as the products were no longer fit for human consumption.

Meanwhile, the company’s legal representative, Oliver Santos, denied the accusations against his client.

“We categorically deny yung insinuations na binabato ng NBI sa kliyente namin,” he said. (We categorically deny the insinuations made by the NBI against our clients.)

When asked about the presence of expired and decaying meat, he responded, “We will confer with that with our client because we will answer all allegations because it will already touch on the merits, on the proper forum.”

Following the operation, NBI Director Jaime Santiago ordered the immediate disposal of the confiscated meat to prevent it from being sold to the public. The company is facing potential charges under Republic Act 7394, or the Consumer Act, in relation to the Food Security Act.