Producción y Distribución Venezolana de Alimentos (PDVAL) is a nationwide food supply network in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. It was created by Venezuelan president

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

and Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in response to the high food demand and presumed stockpiling by private food sectors, creating food shortage. Along with the related

Mission Mercal Mission Mercal, officially launched on 24 April 2003 is a Bolivarian Mission established in Venezuela under the government of Hugo Chávez. The Mission involves a state-run company called ''Mercados de Alimentos, C.A.'' (MERCAL), which provides s ...

, it was started following the

Venezuelan general strike of 2002–2003 The Venezuelan general strike of 2002–2003 was an attempt by the Venezuelan opposition to President Hugo Chávez to summon a new presidential election. It took place from December 2002 to February 2003, when it faded. The government fired over 1 ...

, which saw concerns about corporate control of food distribution. PDVAL's goal is to distribute basic goods such as meat, milk, chicken and other goods that have prices regulated by the government.

Controversies

From June 2010, PDVAL started being administrated by the Vicepresidency of Venezuela after the discovery of

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s of decomposed food supplies around the country. Government opposition denounced the finding of thousands of containers with a total of 130.000 tons of decomposed supplies.

References

Agriculture companies of Venezuela PDVSA Venezuelan brands {{food-company-stub