Venezuela has fined the Swiss food giant Nestle $88,000 under a new consumer protection law for holding back some 25 tons of powdered milk for infants, news reports said Friday. Officials said Nestle had retained the milk in its warehouses in eastern Venezuela but not brought them on the market.
The penalty stems from a new law that regulates the prices of all goods and services and seeks to contain the high domestic inflation rate running at 22.7 percent so far the year. The milk must be brought to the point of sale and the warehouse will be audited so that future shipments of the product can be distributed, said Arquimedes Barrios, of the consumer protection agency Indepabis. Business leaders complain the law is a blow to the market economy and warn that shortages could result from enforcement. Nestle meanwhile had argued it could not deliver the milk because of a lack of trucks.