Three Philippine flour millers have filed separate criminal cases against a flour importer for allegedly repacking imported Turkish flour using the packaging of local brands.
In a statement, the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (Pafmil) said Wellington Flour Mills (WFM), Universal Robina Corp. (URC) and General Milling Corp. (GMC) each filed against MCT Trading Inc. cases of adulteration, misbranding, mislabeling, false advertising and violation of the intellectual property and food safety laws.
According to Pafmil, the case was filed before the Department of Justice after the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Task Force Pantalan raided the warehouse of MCT Trading and allegedly found the importers’ employees repacking the Prime brand Turkish flour into bags with the brands Globe and General, which are owned by URC and GMC, respectively.
Pafmil reported that police operatives seized a total of 1,382 25-kilogram bags of branded flour from MCT. These brands are: “King” of San Miguel Mills; “Naga Rossa” of Asian Grains; “Goldfish,” “Golden All Purpose Flour” and “Wellington” of WFM; and “El Superior” of LFM.
Also confiscated were Turkish flour with the brands Prime and Premiere, which were imported by MCT Trading.
“The bags of the Turkish flour did not indicate the manufacturer in Turkey. [This was] a violation of the Philippine labeling law which requires that the name of the manufacturers of imported food products be indicated in the packaging of the imported material. Bureau of Customs records, however, showed that these flour products were produced by Yorukogullari Gida San. Ve Tic A.S., a Turkish flour miller,” Pafmil said.