MIAMI – Local 10 News has discovered rotting fruits and vegetables continue to make their way back into the marketplace, despite the fact they were thrown out.
Local 10 News investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier first exposed the situation around the Miami Produce Center in 2013 and has spent the past weeks in the area again.
Past articles: Rotting produce picked from dumpsters | Restaurants buy dumpster-picked produce
Local 10 News cameras spotted several people dumpster diving for produce, then reselling the products to unsuspecting customers. Some of the products were brought by a Pompano Beach restaurant.
"This is not supposed to be going on," said Willie Timmons, chief sanitation inspector for the city of Miami. "We are trying to make this a thing of the past."
The produce is being thrown out by licensed produce companies at and around the Miami Produce Center, which is west of Jackson Memorial Hospital.
The produce is being pulled from dumpsters infested with flies and maggots. Much of the produce is rotting.
The city of Miami said since Local 10's first stories ran in 2013, it has doubled the number of inspectors in the area.
Timmons said what Local 10 News saw were isolated incidents and things in the area are better.
"It has to stop," Timmons said.
Weinsier confronted several of the dumpster divers, who denied reselling stuff from the dumpsters, despite the fact they were caught on camera.
City of Miami code says dumpsters are supposed to be locked and in a fenced-in enclosure. But Local 10 News found dumpster after dumpster full of rotting produce that was not secure or locked.
Timmons said 30 citations and 34 warnings have been issued around the Miami Produce Center in the past year.
The city has doubled the number of inspectors and is focusing on the area to prevent the situation.
Follow Jeff Weinsier on Twitter @jweinsier
Follow Local 10 News on Twitter @WPLGLocal10