In an inter-institutional operation between the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and the Authority for Consumer Protection and Competition Defense (ACODECO), anomalies were found in the marketing of onion by various economic agents in the province of Herrera, including supermarkets, distributors, and other businesses. During inspections carried out in compliance with the technical regulation (DGNTI-COPANIT 52-2017), anomalies were found such as: selling imported onion labeled as national, product in poor condition, failure to comply with packaging standards, and lack of an expiration date. The technical regulation states that for packaging and labeling, the category, caliber, packing date, and harvest date of the product must be clearly indicated. The administrator of ACODECO, Ramón Abadi Balid, stated that measures are being taken to prevent the bad practice of selling imported onion as if it were national, to the detriment of the Panamanian producer and to the detriment of consumer health, as the product has exceeded its time for commercialization, as well as deficiencies in the information on some packages have been found. ACODECO will continue to carry out these operations to ensure compliance with these standards in the markets, including the inspection of imported onion to prevent the entry of pests and contaminants that affect people's health.
