Ministry of Health Discards Bags of Grain from Major Producer, Hill Milling Ltd.

The Ministry of Health has once again dumped several bags of grain from Hill Milling Ltd., one of the major producers of grain, seed, sugar and confectionery products in Barbados.

Yesterday environmental health officers directed and supervised the removal of hundreds of bags of rice, corn, flour, peas and oats from the Haggatt Hall, St Michael factory, where they were loaded onto trucks and taken to the Mangrove landfill in St Thomas, accompanied by police patrols, to be burnt.

Two weeks ago more than $600 000 worth of similar items were dumped because they contained weevils.

While there has been no word from the Ministry of Health on this latest action, Richard Ashby, chief executive officer of Hill Milling, who remained in his office while all of the activity was taking place on the outside, said the stock dumped this time was valued around $700 000.

“They say they dumping everything. They ain’t dumping only the bad, they dumping all – both good and bad,” he lamented, pointing out that cornmeal, oats, rice and peas were among the grains thrown away.

“They even dumping cereal that ain’t even open.”