Customs officials in Battambang yesterday seized and burned nearly 500 kilograms of expired food imported from Thailand.

The intercepted goods included noodles, dried squid, biscuits and candy. Authorities ordered the importers to sign an agreement to stop bringing in expired goods, threatening them with prosecution if they break the covenant.

“All the expired goods that were burned were confiscated from vendors who brought them from Thailand two weeks ago,” said Pich Prathna, deputy chief of customs and excise at the Phnom Die Border Checkpoint.

“We do not allow our people to bring in expired goods to distribute in Cambodia, because they will affect public health,” he said, pointing to past food poisoning incidents linked to expired foods.

The Commerce Ministry released a draft of Cambodia’s first food safety law in July.

The law would create a food safety authority to screen food for contaminants and mislabelling and to make sure that food businesses are fully licensed.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Ministry of Commerce aim to have the draft law completed by the end of the year.