Food corruption in Lebanon pushes consumers towards healthy home-made products

Media circles are still reporting the repercussions of the explosive revelations of the Minister of Health, Wael Abu Faoor, who revealed last Saturday a list of prominent commercial establishment serving compromised food.  Abu Faoor also revealed on Wednesday a new list of 18 establishments. A number of franchise establishments were included in the new list notably Roadsters and Mac Donalds.  
The President of the Franchise Association noted yesterday that mistakes are possible and it is imperative to conduct additional lab tests according to international standards to ensure that testing results on quality and safety are credible. He criticised the way in which Minister Abu Faoor revealed the matter.  Abu Faoor replied to those who accused him of jeopardising the tourism season by saying that the price of tourism and economy will not be the life of citizens.
In a related vein, this crisis has led many citizens to raise their own domestic animals.  The owner of a Shuf-located mill, Abu Firas, noted that the news of food corruption prompted people to buy wheat and to process their own food such as grains, jams and pickles.  According to Om Wael from Klayah village, any many citizens from Arkoob, Hasbaya and Marjeyoun, people are already used to and depend on home made food. For his part, Marwan Sharrouf, the head of the Najmet el Sobh cooperative which is located in M7hadtheh and produces naturally processed food (“Mooneh”), called for a return to health food.  The head of the Federation of Kalaat al Istiklal municipalities, Issam Hadi, noted that citizens' health is indeed in danger, adding that combating corruption is the responsibility of all and that it is the duty of municipalities to ensure food safety.
(Source: Annahar, Al Mustaqbal, Al Akhbar 14 November 2014)