DAMASCUS // The United Nations said on Saturday it had mistakenly sent hundreds of boxes of expired biscuits to besieged civilians near Damascus as part of a relief convoy.
A total of 320 out of 650 boxes of high energy biscuits sent to the rebel-held areas of Zabadani and Madaya on October 18 had expired a month earlier.
“We can confirm that this was the result of an unfortunate human error during the loading process,” said Yacoub El Hillo, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria.
He said the United Nations Syria team is taking the issue “very seriously” and working with its humanitarian partners to rectify the situation, but added that medical sources had confirmed that eating the expired biscuits would pose no health threats.
The aid convoy that went into Zabadani and Madaya was a rare instance of assistance reaching besieged areas near Damascus during a ceasefire between Syrian government forces and their allies and insurgents.
Mr El Hillo’s remarks came after concerns were raised that children consuming the expired biscuits could become sick.
He said the UN has sent a request to all parties involved, including the Syrian government, to facilitate immediate access to the areas to replace the biscuits and allow medical personnel to examine and treat potential patients.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization officials said no new polio cases have been reported in the Middle East for more than 18 months despite continuing conflict, declining immunisation rates and mass population displacement, leading experts to believe an outbreak has been successfully halted.
The outbreak which officials say paralysed 36 children in Syria and two in Iraq between October 2013 and April 2014 prompted fears of a major epidemic and was followed by the largest ever immunisation response in the history of the Middle East.
* Associated Press
