Food proves a risky business in Haifa

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Hundreds of kilograms of food goods that are unfit for human consumption are being sold around Haifa, and there are too few municipal inspectors to catch all the offending products, reports www.mynet.co.il. More than 1,100 people were treated in the Carmel Hospital alone in the past year for gastric problems caused by food they had eaten, while the numbers treated in the Rambam and Bnai Zion hospitals were unstated. According to the report, the city's veterinary service is responsible for inspecting food sold in the city, but with only five doctors employed by the department, and with other duties to perform as well as food inspections, it could not hope to catch more than a "tiny portion" of offenders. The report said that in the past three months, food inspectors visited 240 businesses and declared a large amount of products unfit for consumption, including 11,100 eggs, 3,874 fresh fish, 2,621 kg of fresh meat and meat products, 191 kg of frozen meat, 18 kg of ground meat, 113 kg of lamb and mutton, and 421 kg of fresh chicken. The report said that while the figures for Haifa's largest hospital, Rambam, and for the smaller Bnai Zion hospital were unavailable, some 1,140 people were treated at the Carmel Hospital in the past year for gastric problems caused by foods they had eaten. No response was reported from the municipality.