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An allegation from a former employee at an Okanagan specialty foods company based in Kelowna has launched the company into a negative spotlight.
Valoroso Foods is being accused of tampering with labelling on products that are sold at the company. The owner, Joe Valoroso says he takes full responsibility for any product that may have landed on store shelves that has been mislabelled.
Photo Credit: Valoroso Foods
“We are taking measures immediately, as we speak we gave orders to close the doors,” said Valoroso. “We are doing inventory control. We are installing new software to catch inventory mistakes. I am not going to criticize anybody, because let’s face it, our real problem is people.”
When asked directly as to whether or not employees had tampered with labels and changed expiration dates, Valoroso skirted around the question.
“My employees are doing their best, sometimes it is because of a lack of training because of how fast the company is growing, we are taking measures for that,” he said. “I cannot blame them for any of their doing, if anyone is to blame it is me. The growth has forced me not to go deeply and that is why we have taken measures to make sure that from this moment on this will not happen again. I invite all my employees to communicate and the door is always open for suggestion and opinon.”
Photo Credit: Valoroso Foods
Currently the food on the shelves is being called “pretty safe” by Valoroso, but for security measures they will be going through every bottle and every item to ensure that everything is being sold properly and with the correct label. He adds that they will make sure that all products have been rotated and not neglected and if there is a problem it will be reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
But according to Interior Health, since 2011 the health protection department has received four complaints regarding Valoroso Foods in Kelowna.
“I was not aware, this is the first time I am hearing from Interior Health about this, the very first time,” said Valoroso.
“All four complaints were investigated and concerns regarding labeling and best before dates were referred to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” said IH Communications Officer Patrick Gall.
Photo Credit: Valoroso Foods
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is looking into the complaints and has been in touch with KelownaNow.com regarding them. A response as to the current status of these complaints was not received in time for deadline. In the meantime, Valoroso hopes that customers will continue to support them as they have been in the community for decades.
“I have never had a call to say I got sick or somebody got sick because of something they ate,” he states. “Thank God for that, because that would hurt me really bad. That tells me that along the way something decent was done also. We are not here to lose clients, we are here to aquire clients, therefore we have to perform better and better.”
Valoroso Foods has two locations, one in Kelowna on Sutherland Avenue and another in West Kelowna on Main Street. The company also provides wholesale service to businesses around the province and has a shipping and receiving warehouse on Richter Street in Kelowna. The business has been in Kelowna for 20 years provides Italian specialty products to restaurants and grocers Canada-wide.
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