MANILA, Philippines – Health authorities Friday declared 28 milk and milk products – including some well known brands – as free of contamination but said two similar products made in China that they had tested should be permanently taken off the shelves for containing the industrial chemical melamine.

Not only that. The two China-made milk and milk products that tested positive for melamine may also have been smuggled into the country, the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III identified the two China-made products as Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk and Mengniu Drink.

Those who have consumed the two products should consult doctors, especially if they are feeling something unusual, Duque said at a press conference.

According to Duque, melamine is hazardous if consumed over a long period of time.

"It will damage the kidneys (because) the chemical is poorly soluble and has the tendency to accumulate in the kidneys," Duque said.

The BFAD declared 28 other products, including popular milk and chocolate brands, free of the melamine chemical.

Melamine is a chemical used in making plastics, which was found to have been added to watered-down milk made in China and blamed for the death of four babies and the illness of more than 50,000 others.

30 products tested

"Of the 30 products we have tested, at least two were found to be positive for melamine. These are Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk and Mengniu Drink," Duque said.

He said consumers could resume buying the 28 products cleared of melamine but the ban on all China-made milk and milk product remained as testing of other samples was still going on.

BFAD Director Leticia Gutierrez said the 28 products cleared of melamine could now be brought back to the shelves of stores.
"Those who patronize these products should no longer worry," she said.

Referring to Yili and Mengniu, Gutierrez said: "Personally, I think these brands are not that popular here. They are all in Chinese characters and they are probably not registered (with) us."

Milk factory raided

There are still 200 products in the BFAD laboratory for testing and the warning on retailers to take banned items off their shelves stays, health officials say.

The Department of Health has filed cases against the Sta. Lucia Metro East Supermarket between Cainta, Rizal and Pasig City after inspectors found a China-made milk product being sold there, BFAD legal information and compliance division chief Emilio Polig Jr. said.

The DOH Friday also raided a milk factory in Balintawak, Quezon City where inspectors found repacked milk products that do not name the country of origin, also a violation of the ban, Polig told the Inquirer.

Gutierrez said the samples of Yili and Mengniu that BFAD inspectors had collected and tested positive for melamine appeared to have been smuggled since the tetra packs only had Chinese characters. The BFAD requires registered imported products to have English translations on their labels.

The problem is, aside from these allegedly smuggled stocks, there are also legally imported Yili and Mengniu milk products that are registered with the BFAD, Polig said.

Still untested

These properly registered Yili and Mengniu items have not been tested, although the BFAD already has samples of these items for testing, BFAD Laboratory officer in charge Maria Lourdes Santiago said.

Duque said: "It is highly likely that they (both the allegedly smuggled and legitimate products) come from the same source. We will continue to validate the findings."

The BFAD last week released a list of 54 products for testing. A number of products on the list of 28 released Friday were not on the original list of 54.

Those not on the original list and were not previously mentioned by the BFAD as products to be tested included variants of popular milk brand Nido as well as Bear Brand.

"We are prioritizing infant formula products, those which are for babies," Santiago explained, when asked how they determined the order of products to be tested.

She said the BFAD tested products based on the sequence they were brought to the laboratory. Private companies cannot lobby for their products to be tested first, she said.

Private milk companies can choose to have their products tested by 14 accredited laboratories in the country, of which only two have the capacity to test for melamine, Santiago said.

The findings will have to be validated by BFAD, she added.

"We are doing our best to release the results as fast as we can," Gutierrez said. She promised to release test results of another batch of 30 products on Tuesday.

Top priority

Duque said that because of the limited capacity of the BFAD laboratory, milk and milk products from China will be prioritized for testing.

Afterward, other products from China can also be tested for melamine, Duque said. He was reacting to television reports quoting a private laboratory as saying it had found melamine in eight products from China, including a popular luncheon meat brand.

Duque said the private laboratory that conducted the test "is not accredited" by the BFAD.

"It still needs to be audited by BFAD," Duque said. He alleged that the reference standard the private laboratory had used to detect melamine was questionable.

Duque said that to avoid confusing the public, private laboratories should submit any findings in connection with the ban on China-made products to the BFAD for validation.

Duque also ordered an investigation of allegations that some local importers were repacking banned milk products from China and putting new labels on them to make it appear that these came from New Zealand.

Ties with China

Malacañang Friday said the government decision to ban China-made milk and dairy products would not damage Philippine-China relations.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza told reporters: "China and the Philippines have close diplomatic and trade relations, and issues like this, I'm sure, will not get in the way of continuing warm relations between the two countries."

Referring to the actions taken by the BFAD, which is under the supervision of the DOH, Dureza said the government would rather "overreact than underreact because it's for the safety (of all)."

He said the BFAD was doing everything within its mandate "to protect consumers from any harmful substance ... whether Chinese milk or any other substance."

Referring to reports that BFAD was understaffed, Dureza said: "That's the reality. We did not anticipate this issue to crop up, so our agency will have to contend with the surge (of products to be tested). Let's be patient because best efforts are being exerted considering the emergency situation."