Editorial: Stringent rules

A recent incident involving an international brand that said sorry after a rat was found in one of its branches in the country is an indication of how poor both the businesses and their consumers consider sanitation.
In a report last week, the brand, a maker of expensive breads, apologized to its customers after a video went viral where a rat was found on top of a tray of its products in one of its branches.
“Food safety is our most important priority. Upon learning of this incident, we conducted a thorough investigation as to how this situation occurred,” BreadTalk said in a statement it released after the incident.
It said that it has taken measures to ensure that its stores are clean as it has also ordered its employees to ensure that the incident will not happen again.
The lingering question, however, is that if the incident happened to a brand known for selling expensive products and, therefore, has the resources to ensure that its operations are free from impurities, how about those very small ones?
It is high time for both the national government as well as the local government units to revisit the laws on sanitation and come up with stringent regulations tailored to the needs of the times.
This is very important because health is a primary concern and without a more comprehensive policy on dealing with food products, the people are exposed to the danger of unsanitary practices of businesses that only look into the bottomline without considering the possible impact of their negligence to the health of their customers.