SAYS HEALTH CHIEF
‘Be vigilant over Chinese food imports’
Check products for BFAD registration marks
By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:35:00 10/04/2008
Filed Under: milk crisis, Food, Safety of Citizens
MANILA, Philippines -- Proof that at least two China-made milk products exported to the Philippines were contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine should make the country more wary about importing food products from China, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Saturday.
“The country will have to be more careful about food imports coming from China. We should step up our regulatory functions,” Duque told the Inquirer.
He said he has already ordered the Bureau of Food and Drugs, which found melamine in Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk and Mengniu Drink, products believed to have been smuggled into the country, to also test the safety of other China-made food products sold here.
BFAD inspectors bought the samples of the two milk products which tested positive for melamine in Metro Manila.
Duque said his office will work with the Department of Trade and Industry to ask Chinese embassy officials to help local businessmen suffering from losses for importing China-made milk products that the DOH has banned in light of the melamine scare.
“We just want to make sure our businessmen are not left to suffer,” Duque said.
In an earlier interview, he said Chinese embassy officials could lobby the Chinese government for a policy to either replace or reimburse the products local businessmen had imported.
The DOH has banned all China-made dairy products following the discovery of melamine-tainted infant formula in China, which has been blamed for the deaths of four babies and the illness of more than 50,000 others.
The DOH on Friday cleared 28 dairy products -- including some that were not manufactured in China -- after tests showed they were free of melamine. In addition to the two brands confirmed to be contaminated, an unknown number of other dairy products from China continued to be banned unless shown by BFAD tests to be free of melamine.
The BFAD is testing 200 more products and will be ready with a new batch of results either Tuesday or Wednesday, BFAD director Leticia Gutierrez said Saturday.
Gutierrez said the finding of melamine in the two China-made milk products should teach consumers how important it is to check for BFAD registration numbers on the labels of the products they buy.
“Our consumers should check where the products are manufactured. It is also important to check the (BFAD) registration number... which means the product passed through the BFAD,” Gutierrez said.
The samples of Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk and Mengniu Drink which tested positive for melamine did not have BFAD registration numbers, Gutierrez said, boosting suspicions they were smuggled into the country.
She said that the Bureau of Customs cannot release food shipments without any clearance from the BFAD. The BFAD requires all imported products to have English translations of their labels.
There are legitimate China-made Yili and Mengniu milk products registered with the BFAD sold in the country and these will also be tested, BFAD Laboratory officer-in-charge Maria Lourdes Santiago had said.
The Bureau of Customs is still holding a 40-foot container van containing P5 million worth of chocolate Snickers pending test results from the BFAD.
Since the melamine scare erupted, no importer, aside from that of the Snickers shipment, has attempted to bring in dairy products from China, Customs Investigation and Intelligence Service Director Jairus Paguntalan said.
But shipments from New Zealand and Australia, the top sources of imported dairy products in the country, remain unaffected, he added.
Duque has also instructed the BFAD to get the results of a private laboratory which claims to have found melamine in at least eight products, including canned meat products from China.
The private laboratory is not among the 14 BFAD accredited laboratories in the country.
“We didn't commission them to do this testing,” Duque said. “We already asked them to submit the samples they tested to the BFAD so we can validate their findings.”
Of the 14 BFAD accredited laboratories, only two reported capability of testing for melamine, Santiago said. These two private laboratories need to send samples abroad, however, unlike the BFAD which conducts its tests in Muntinlupa City.
When added to milk or other foods, melamine gives those products a high protein content reading.
Duque said melamine is a chemical used in making plastics. It is hazardous when consumed regularly for a long period because it does not dissolve easily and can accumulate in the kidneys.
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