Director-General of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mr Babatunde Irukera (middle) putting heads together with staff of the commission just before sealing off Panda Supermarket in Jabi, Abuja on Tuesday.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Tuesday sealed off Panda Supermarket located in Jabi area of the Federal Capital Territory for displaying and selling contraband and expired food items.

Speaking with journalists after the supermarket was sealed off, Director-General of the commission, Mr Babatunde Irukera said that the move was to serve as a deterrent to others and to safeguard the lives of citizens.

According to Irukera, the sale of contraband and expired food items is very distributing especially at a time like this and especially when the products are coming from Asian countries.

He said that the sealing off of the supermarket followed credible intelligence available on social media about a supermarket in Abuja engaging in discriminative practices.

“You know, the biggest issue we have now is the coronavirus and there is sufficient information to show that it started as an animal to animal transfer and now animals to human beings, especially wild animals.

“The origin of it is seafood from a district in China. We’ve got a lot of seafood here and we don’t know how it came.

“We are seeing all kind of things and that certainly violates the laws in Nigeria.

“Some of the products are developing mould even in the refrigerator. There’s a huge cold room there with expired products showing that the products will expire in 2073 and 2089,” Irukera added.

The director-general listed some of the expired food items to include pork, rice, mushrooms, chicken, gizzard, among others.

“We found out that toilets that are used as stores for the food items and certain things that were wrong here. So we will be closing the place down,” he said.

Irukera led the team to inspect the Gwarimpa branch of the supermarket where some of the expired food items found were confiscated.