THE Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration will collaborate to stop food smugglers exploiting a legal loophole where the DA cannot inspect shipments of processed products.Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said that smugglers were intentionally misclassifying imported food as processed products to evade DA inspections. Processed foods fall under the FDA's jurisdiction.
He also cited a recent case involving a rice importer who attempted to unload an entire shipment despite declaring only a fraction of the original volume in import documents. Investigations are ongoing to gather sufficient evidence against these entities, the DA said.Tiu Laurel said that blacklisting would provide a swift means of penalizing illegal traders compared to the lengthy process of pursuing criminal cases in court.