ILOILO City – Here’s one practical holiday shopping tip from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region 6: check the expiry dates of noche buena products before buying them.
“Aside from the products’ prices, be very particular with the expiry dates,” said Felisa Judith Degala, chief of DTI-6’s consumer protection division.
Among these noche buena items are pasta, cheese, ham, cheese, and fruit cocktail.
Most of the time, business establishments sell at discounted prices noche buena products that are nearing their expiry dates, Degala revealed.
Consume them before their expiry dates to avoid food poisoning and other inconveniences such as an upset stomach, she said.
But the better and safer practice, stressed Degala, is to buy noche buena products with still faraway expiry dates.
There is sufficient supply of noche buena items in Western Visayas, added Degala.
Based on the latest monitoring of DTI-6, Degala said business establishments were following the suggested retail price (SRP) released by the department as early as the first week of December.
“We have been conducting weekly monitoring in grocery stores and supermarkets and we have confirmed they are following the SRP,” she said.
Non-compliance with SRPs, regardless on the amount of overpricing, will serve as basis for the DTI to call the attention of erring establishments and charge them for profiteering.
The public are also urged to report non-complying business establishments to the DTI.
Degala also urged consumers to be very careful when buying Christmas lights.
Look for the Philippine Standard (PS) or Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) marks that certify the good quality of the Christmas lights, she said.
As of this writing, said Degala, DTI-6 had not received any complaint on substandard Christmas lights./PN
