As supervision and conscience go missing northwest Syria, unidentified goods with no expiry date sneak into the markets
The areas that are controlled by Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the factions northwest of Syria are witnessing the spread of fake and unknown foreign goods of low quality competing with prices of other products, due to the absence of supply control and the increase in prices of the original imported materials.
In these areas, the Syrian citizen and vulnerable displaced people have become a portal to sell these goods, due to the chaos and the growing number of displaced people in a small geographical area, this has encouraged the establishment of local industries, particularly baby food, which are now spreading in the shops competing with prices of other poor goods. These products lack the lowest levels of supervision and quality, and they rarely have a production date of product contents.
Most of these goods cause health problems and endanger children’s lives, a large number of sweets and food for children are spreading within the markets, some of which do not bear any signs indicating the country of origin, place of manufacture, the manufacturing company, or the expiration date, which may pose a threat on children if they eat them.
In the manufacturing process, additional substances such as flavor enhancers, preservatives, and colors are being added to help in increasing the desire of consumers and attract them, these substances should be added to the food in specified proportions and levels according to the global standards, without any increase or decrease, because any difference in these internationally accepted ratios will make the food taste different, decreasing the willingness to accept it, also, these colored materials have health effects on pregnant women, children, and the elderly.
The colored substances also cause problems such as skin allergies, respiratory allergies, and weakening in the immune system. A lot of them cause birth defects in the embryos of pregnant women.
In his testimony to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a health worker in the northwest of Syria spoke about the damages of these manufactured materials.
He stressed that most of the cases that come to the hospitals are acute intestine diseases among children, especially as a result of those locally manufactured foods, being poorly stored, as well as being contaminated.
In a related context, Iranian goods, which are considered the worst and cheapest in the market compared to other materials, are spreading.
The residents demand these goods to be banned from the liberated areas because of the profits they make to the Iranian government, which is under economic sanctions, in addition to the Iranian role in the war with the regime forces since the beginning of the revolution and its killing of the Syrians.
Amid this carelessness in these areas starting from the crossings -which are supposed to prevent the expired goods from entering the areas until the Rescue Government that manages areas of control of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, which is a part of this corruption. Most merchants import goods from Turkey or other p[laces that have strong relationships and partnerships with members and Emirs of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, preventing any other party from holding traders accountable not even the stores that sell their goods.
With no supervision over these products and the fact that they are not being inspected to know their components and the potential harm they have; the only loser became the Syrian citizen, who turned by the economic conditions to a target for the greedy traders, those who do not see the Syrian citizen as a human being, but rather as financial value, no more.