![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08072018-01.jpg\")
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<\/div><\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nEmilio \r\nJacques Rivera, head of Cofepris in Nuevo Le\u00f3n, explains that part of the job is \r\nto visit the companies to verify the information they provide. However, he \r\nadmits that \"sometimes, the results of an analyzed product differ just because \r\nthe analysis is made with an hour or a day apart.\" That difference alone could \r\nexplain that such a poor-quality milk has arrived in Venezuela to be consumed by \r\nthe poorest.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Cofepris \r\nrepresentatives went twice to the DAI address. April 28, 2017, was the last \r\ntime, as admitted by the official. \"Two samples were taken and all the results \r\nwere normal,\" he said when interviewed by the Exc\u00e9lsior newspaper for this \r\nreport. However, the chemical analysis of one of the MacLeche packages that came \r\nfrom the Port of Veracruz to that of La Guaira reveals the ineffectiveness of \r\nthe controls.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Although \r\nthe packaging affirms that the product contained 26 grams (0.9 oz.) of protein \r\nper 100 grams (3.5 oz), a study by \r\nthe Institute of Food Science and Technology of Universidad Central de Venezuela \r\n(UCV)<\/A>, \r\nconducted at the request of Armando.info<\/B>, showed that it barely \r\nreached to 8.79 grams (0.3 oz.) of protein. Something similar occurs with the \r\ncalcium intake ?a \r\nchild would need to drink almost 42 glasses to cover the daily requirement of \r\nthat mineral, while an adult should take 82.6 glasses. In contrast, the sodium \r\nvalue reached 604 milligrams, almost doubling the amount stated on the packaging \r\nand the amount recommended by the National Nutrition Institute (INN) of \r\nVenezuela.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08072018-04.jpg\")
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<\/div><\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nBlaming Venezuela<\/h2>\n\n\n
In \r\nspite of the above, the official maintains that they were compliant, as the \r\ncompanies requested the \"Free Sale Export Certificate,\" which obliged to verify \r\ncompliance with the Mexican labeling standards only, while Venezuela had to \r\ndemand a \"Product Analysis Certificate\" to verify the quality of some items that \r\nare mostly exclusively packaged for the program created by \r\nMaduro.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
But \r\nto date, there is no proof that the Venezuelan authorities or the intermediaries \r\nthat sold the merchandise to the Venezuelan Government requested the Analysis \r\nCertificate. \"The food to be exported only requires the Certificates of Free \r\nSale,\" Jacques Rivera insists.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08072018-06.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\nOn \r\nFebruary 21, 2018, barely three \r\ndays after Armando.info revealed the poor quality of up to eight brands of \r\nMexican milk sold in the CLAP<\/A>s, \r\nthe Venezuelan Foreign Trade Corporation (Corpovex), a state company that \r\ncentralizes public imports and negotiated the contracts for the supply of CLAPs \r\nwith intermediaries, sent a letter to the Mexican suppliers stating that \"it is \r\nmandatory to submit to the verification company and Corpovex the Sanitary \r\nRegistry and the Certificate of Free Consumption in the country of origin of all \r\nshipped products corresponding to the Local Supply and Production Committee \r\n(CLAP), either as combos or loose cargo.\" When the Mexican businessmen received \r\nthe letter signed by Major General Giuseppe Yoffreda Yorio, the damage was \r\ndone.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08072018-07.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\nAlmost \r\na year earlier, on April 4, 2017, the federal office of Cofepris approved \r\nEmpacadora de Alimentos Fucks S de RL de CV\u2019s export certificate for Rancho \r\nNuevo milk powder, and on October 7, it authorized S\u00f3lo Un Precio Servicios \r\nInmobiliarios S. de RL de CV to sell Soy M\u00e1s, a brand also exported by Value \r\nOriented Services (VOS), to Venezuela. The nutritional information of both \r\nbrands was false and their nutritional values were far from the parameters \r\napproved for consumption. Rancho Nuevo barely contained 3.82 grams of protein \r\nper 100 grams of the product, a value well below the 25.8 grams required by the \r\nVenezuelan nutritional standard or the 34 grams provided for in the Official \r\nMexican Standard.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08072018-08.jpg\")
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<\/div><\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nNo \r\nVenezuelan official has made a statement on the matter, saved for Maduro, who \r\nreported irregularities last year, but gave no further details. \"Once there were \r\na few complaints here and there. We investigated them and took corrective \r\nactions because there were some poor-quality products. The corrective measures \r\nwere taken immediately,\" said the president. The opposition deputy, Freddy \r\nSuperlano, traveled to the Mexican capital and on May 14, filed a complaint with \r\nthe Attorney General's Office. \"How is it possible that fake powdered milk \r\nproduced in Mexico has marketing authorization and no one is sanctioned for such \r\nfraud?\" Asks the member of the Parliament who acts as a chairman of the National \r\nAssembly\u2019s comptroller's office commission.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08072018-10.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\nDespite \r\nthe diplomatic tension between Maduro's government and his counterpart Enrique \r\nPe\u00f1a Nieto, figures from Mexico's Ministry of Economy reveal that Venezuela was \r\nlast year\u2019s major buyer of milk powder. The exchange amounted to 56 million \r\nkilos (over 123 million pounds) in bulk at around $ 0.5 per kilogram (2.2 lb). \r\nThe milk included in the CLAP boxes, was in turn billed to the Venezuelan \r\nGovernment by intermediaries like Group Grand \r\nLimited at 4.75 dollars per kilo, in January 2017, and at 6.95 dollars per kilo \r\neight months later<\/A>. \r\nOthers like Wellsford \r\nTrading Corp billed it at just over $ 4 per kilo<\/A>, \r\nwhile M.I.R \r\nImportaci\u00f3 I Exportaci\u00f3 billed it at almost $ 5 per kilo<\/A>. <\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
This \r\nyear, bulk shipments decreased. In the first four months, just over 2 million \r\n100 thousand kilograms were exported, but from January to May, about twenty \r\nshipments left from Mexican ports to Venezuela, loaded with millions of CLAP \r\nboxes that were distributed by the Government before the presidential election \r\nof May 20. Those batches included new brands of milk powder. \"We are in another \r\nfood packaging center for the CLAPs. We are verifying the quality of the \r\nproducts included in the boxes. This is the milk.\" said the Minister of Food, \r\nLuis Medina Ram\u00edrez, on June 8, through his Twitter account, while exhibiting a \r\npack of Vaca Milk<\/I>, manufactured by \r\nB-Eminent Inc of Mexico. <\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\n2017, that company packaged the Vital Milk brand, which despite of being among \r\nthe ones showing the best nutritional values in the chemical test, was also far \r\nfrom fully complying with the Venezuelan nutritional standard. Children need \r\n17.6 glasses of that milk to cover their daily demand for calcium, while adults \r\nneed 35.1 glasses.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08072018-11.jpg\")
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