The National Food Buffer Stock Company has commenced investigations into the alleged distribution of expired food at the Savelugu Senior High School (SHS).

Students of the School boycotted classes to protest the quality of meals offered them by the authorities on Monday, February 21.

They subsequently moved to the Chief’s Palace to accuse school authorities of feeding them with expired milk and tin fish.

But the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company, Hanan Abdul Wahab, has assured that all the concerns raised would be investigated.

He did not rule out the possibility of the items being expired though.

“We have a whole department called the Food Safety Department. Before any supplier goes to supply any food item, it has to be checked by this department. I have been informed about this Savelugu situation which we are going to investigate.”

“We have sent our Northern Regional Manager of Buffer Stock and the Quality Control Officer to go there and get a firsthand information about that situation. It could be that this is as a result of an old stock that the School has…I am not saying that for certainty but quality control or quality checks is a shared responsibility between the supplier and the consumer,” he told JoyNews in an interview.

He entreated headmasters and school authorities to ensure that food items are safe for students’ consumption.

“Once the food item will expire before the end of the academic year or semester, they are supposed to reject it or take a quantity that can sustain them before it expires.”

Meanwhile, President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, has argued that the supply of food to high schools is a burden on the Buffer Stock Company.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Monday, he said although the Company was formed by the government to carry out distribution roles, Senior High Schools were not part of its target.

“Buffer stock is just an institution that government has put there to do distribution. The job of buffer stock and the way it was established was not meant to distribute food to Senior High Schools,” he asserted.

His comments follow the acute shortage of foods in some second-cycle schools and the Savelugu incident.

The CEO of the Company, Mr Wahab has admitted that his outfit is suffering from cash flow challenges with government heavily indebted to it.

According to him, the Company is doing its best in the food distribution process.