Bahrain Court Upholds Sentences in Major Expired Food Scandal

TDT | Manama

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The Third High Criminal Court of Appeal has issued its ruling in one of Bahrain’s largest food safety cases, involving the possession, marketing, and sale of expired food products with forged expiry dates.

According to Assistant Public Prosecutor Wael Rashid Buallay, the court accepted the appeal procedurally but ruled to amend the verdict by canceling the closure of one company branch while upholding the remaining penalties issued by the First Instance Court.

The judgment included:

• Company Owners: One sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined BD 100,000; the second fined BD 101,000.

• Company Official: Sentenced to 3 years in prison.

• Nineteen Employees: Each sentenced to 2 years in prison.

• Deportation: All foreign convicts are to be deported after serving their terms.

• Companies: Two food distribution firms were fined BD 10,000 each; one company and three branches of another ordered closed for six months.

• Confiscation: Expired and adulterated food items, along with equipment used in tampering, were seized and destroyed.

The case began after a worker filed a complaint with Al-Khamis Police Station in the Northern Governorate, reporting that he had been forced to forge expiry dates of expired food products at a warehouse. He recorded video evidence showing dates being altered by removing original labels and replacing them with new ones. Refusing to continue the practice, he alerted authorities.

Following the report, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce ordered the closure of the violating warehouse and its affiliated outlets. Prosecutors immediately inspected the site, questioning 29 suspects including owners, managers, and employees. The inspection revealed over 14,000 expired food products along with chemical substances used to erase original expiry dates.

The ruling underscores Bahrain’s strict stance on food safety violations and fraudulent commercial practices, sending a strong message of deterrence to violators.