NBI raids find falsely labeled flour worth P1.3M

Thousands of sacks containing counterfeit flour were seized by National Bureau of Investigation-National Capital Region agents in separate raids of warehouses in Novaliches, Quezon City and Sampaloc, Manila on March 13. The raids stemmed from the complaint by the Philippine Foremost Milling Corp. (PFMC) that sellers were distributing fake wheat flour under their brand of Washington Gold Hard Wheat Flour. Prior to the complaint, PFMC received complaints from its bakery customers and buyers about the diminishing quality of their products. The NBI seized an estimated P1.36-million flour during the operations. However, the perpetrators remain at large. The PFMC inspected the products and confirmed that the powder inside the sacks were not PFMC’s Washington Gold Hard Wheat Flour. The printing of the label on the sacks were also different from their product. —Abby Boiser