Customs monitors tainted milk

CUSTOMS Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said the agents of the bureau are strictly monitoring all the ports in the country for the entry of milk products following reports of mercury-tainted milk in the market.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is urging consumers to avoid repacked milk products in the market even if the circumstances surrounding the presence of mercury-tainted milk products from China remain sketchy.

Biazon assured the public that imported milk products that are entering the country are approved by the FDA.

“On the part of the BOC, we only process imports of milk accompanied by a certificate of product registration issued by FDA. Without it, the products cannot be imported,” Biazon added.

According to FDA Spokesman and Deputy Director Ronald de Veyra, it would be dangerous for the public to go for milk products with uncertain source and contents.

“We are about to come out with an advisory advising the public to avoid buying repacked milk products that have no packaging labels,” said de Veyra.

Earlier this week, the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group in China recalled Quan You milk due to the mercury content found in its products.

De Veyra said despite the recall of the product, they are not ruling out the possibility that these products may still be smuggled into the country.

“We are having them checked in the market by our inspectors,” noted the official.

However, de Veyra assured the public that there are no FDA-registered milk products imported from China present in the country.

He recalled that since the melamine scare in 2008 involving several milk products from China, there has been no legal entry of China-made milk products in the Philippines.

“Even after the melamine scare and the lifting of the ban, there were no companies that have sought to register with the FDA,” noted de Veyra.

To recall, it was back in 2008 when the then Bureau of Food and Drugs and the Department of Health imposed a temporary ban on all China-made milk products amid the melamine scare in China that have hospitalized some 50,000 infants with six deaths.

A total of six “tainted” products, namely, Lotte Strawberry Snack Koala Biscuit, JollyCow Slender High Calcium Low Fat Milk (more calcium & Vitamin D) 1 Liter, Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk, Mengniu Drink, Lotte B+W Koala biscuit, and Lotte Chocolate Snack Koala Biscuit were eventually found positive for melamine. (HDT/FP/Sunnex)