A former government supplier accused the Department of Education (DepEd) of allegedly procuring and distributing "overpriced" egg noodles for the government's school feeding program in hunger-stricken provinces last year.

Whelma Lanzuela, president of former government supplier Kolonwel Trading, claimed that DepEd's more than 15 million packs of instant noodles with "fresh eggs" distributed to poor elementary and pre-school pupils last year were overpriced.

Lanzuela said each pack of DepEd's noodles costs P16 to P18, which is three times more expensive than the regular prices of noodles being sold in local stores.

Danilo Quido, sales manager of Kolonwel Trading, added that the nutritional information about the noodles manufactured by DepEd's winning bidder, Jeverps Manufacturing Corp., is deceptive since it really has no protein benefits and added vitamins.

Quido said the company brought samples of the noodles to Vietnam for tests, and the findings showed, "the DepEd fortified instant noodles with fresh egg is made of flour and does not contain any fresh egg but mere egg powder."

Lanzuela and Quido said the DepEd paid Jeverps Manufacturing Corp. P284 million for the noodles.

The two said they had questioned the allegedly overpriced noodles and wrote Education Secretary Jesli Lapus about their findings.

They said they were forced to go to the media after receiving news that the DepEd has awarded Jeverps Manufacturing Corp. the noodles program for this year for P427 million.

'Mixed with fresh eggs and malunggay'

Teodoro Sangil, DepEd Undersecretary for Finance and chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee 1, described Kolonwel Trading's accusation as a way of discrediting DepEd's food for school program.

"Anybody can do that to destroy us," Sangil said, adding that Kolonwel's accusations will not prevent the DepEd from distributing the noodles to less-privileged pupils in Mindanao and Visayas.

He added that Kolonwel is one of the failed bidders of the noodles program.

Sangil also insisted that fresh eggs were mixed with the noodles during the manufacturing process, which was witnessed by DepEd representatives.

"Actually the fresh eggs were mixed with the noodles. The ingredients were processed. Of course, you won't see an actual fresh egg inside the packaging," the DepEd official said.

Meanwhile, Sangil admitted that the noodles were priced higher than the regular noodles being sold in local stores. He said the noodles were made from highly-nutritious ingredients, including fresh eggs and malunggay leaves.

He said the noodles program aims to help malnourished pupils in areas with higher incidence of hunger.

Sangil said that instead of bringing their accusations to the media, Kolonwel Trading should bring the issue to the Office of the Ombudsman.--report from ANTHONY TABERNA, ABS-CBN News