TACLOBAN CITY – Two businessmen were arrested for selling unregistered cooking oil and soy sauce during a joint operation of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Food and Drug Administration in Sogod, Southern Leyte.

P/Lt. Col. Ian N Datiles, head of CIDG in Eastern Visayas, said the two suspects were caught while in the act of trading palm/refined cooking oil and soy sauce without a certification issued by the FDA.

The authorities confiscated the alleged unregistered food products with an estimated value of  P2,244,720.

Republic Act No. 9711 or the Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009 prohibits the manufacture, importation, sale, offering for sale, distribution, and transfer of health and food products without the required registration and authorization from the FDA.

CIDG, in a statement, said the distribution and selling of the unregistered cooking oil and soy sauce is a circumvention of the government's food safety standards requirements of the government.

“Since these food products have not gone through the evaluation process of the FDA, their quality and safety cannot be assured,” CIDG stated.

Meanwhile, the CIDG urged the public to be cautious in buying consumer products by checking the label and FDA Registration Number.

It also asked the help of the public to report to CIDG all warehouses, stores, or online sellers offering or selling unregistered food products.