By IANS/EFE,
Caracas : Over 120 tonnes of foodstuff have been seized from Venezuela’s largest food company by the country’s National Guard, in a bid to “avoid empty shelves at grocery stores”.
This “preventive confiscation” came after authorities detected inconsistencies in reports from the Empresas Polar conglomerate about the content in several of its warehouses, Gen. Luis Bohorquez Soto of the National Guard said.
Over 91 tonnes of wheat flour, 12 tonnes of butter, five tonnes of rice and more than 5,000 litres of cooking oil, among other products, have been seized.
Products of the Empresas Polar group, founded 70 years ago, are sold in more than 150,000 locations. It employs around 30,000 people and its operations generate an additional 180,000 jobs in supply, distribution and support services.
The operation was part of President Hugo Chavez’s efforts “to protect the Venezuelan family” and “avoid the phenomenon of empty shelves at grocery stores”, he said.
Venezuela suffers from periodic shortages of food like milk, wheat flour, beans and coffee. While the government blames hoarding by merchants to drive up prices, business houses say it is due to lack of foreign currency to pay for imports.