OLONGAPO CITY, Zambales — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has filed a formal complaint against a trading firm that allegedly misdeclared a shipment of imported fresh yellow onions as processed food to bypass agricultural import regulations and proper tariffs for their importation.

The DA lodged the complaint before the Olongapo City Prosecutor's Office against Chastity Consumer Goods Trading which the authorities accused of violating the Food Safety Act and the Plant Quarantine Law of 1978.

Named as principal respondent in the case was Lina Bang Talan, the owner and president of the said trading company. The case stems from an inspection at the Port of Subic, which uncovered thousands of boxes of yellow onions falsely declared as frozen fish egg balls.

“The goods were declared as frozen fish egg balls, a processed food item not under the jurisdiction of the BPI (Bureau of Plant Industry). However, upon inspection, the containers yielded thousands of cartons of yellow onions, which are subject to the DA-BPI’s regulations,” Carmela Rivera, area manager of the Bureau of Plant Industry's National Plant Quarantine Services Division at the Port of Subic, disclosed.

Chastity Consumer's cargo shipment was inspected in August 2024 after receiving “derogatory information” indicating undeclared agricultural products in the shipment. Officials from the BPI, Bureau of Customs (BoC) and other port authorities confirmed that the cargo contained yellow onions, which require a Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance to prevent the spread of pests and diseases.

Subsequent tests conducted on the confiscated onions, which totaled 6,395 stacks, found high levels of microbiological contaminants, including E. coli, making them unsafe for consumption.

It was also learned by the authorities that Chastity Consumer Goods Trading is not a registered BPI importer, making the shipment unauthorized.