Friday, September 26, 2008 Agency widens monitoring of stores selling milk products
THREE samples of fresh milk products were taken from supermarkets and sent to the Bureau of Food and Drugs (Bfad) Central Office yesterday.
But Bfad 7 food and drugs regulation officer II Grace Cardona clarified that it did not necessarily mean that melamine has been found in fresh milk that have been produced in countries other than China.
“What we are doing is a proactive step in protecting the public,” Cardona told Sun.Star Cebu.
While the Bfad has already temporarily banned the importation of milk products from China and ordered the strict monitoring of milk products sold at markets, the Bfad 7 has decided to widen the scope of its monitoring operations.
Milk products that are not necessarily imported from China are now being collected for sampling.
“We are just doing random sampling, taking samples from different milk products,” said Cardona.
Bfad 7 did not rule out the possibility that some ingredients of the milk products sold in the market could have been purchased in China, while actual production and packing of the product were done in other countries.
“That is why we are conducting a random sampling,” added Cardona.
Bfad 7, though, assured the public that they would be looking at the milk situation from every angle.
Recent monitoring showed that the milk products sold in the market used ingredients not bought in China. But to be on the safe side, random sampling will continue and samples will be sent to the Bfad central office immediately.
“It could be that there are products with ingredients from China, but for now, we have found none,” said Cardona.
Pullout
With no milk products with Chinese ingredients found, Bfad 7 is speculating that storeowners might have already pulled out the products.
“We have yet to find any. There’s a probability that the storeowners have already pulled the products off the market if they know that the ingredients came from China,”
said Cardona.
With importation of milk products from China being temporarily banned, Department of Health (DOH) 7 Director Susana Madarieta said they have yet to receive further notice of banning other China-made products.
“For now, only milk from China is banned,” said Madarieta.
Check labels
However, Madarieta added that importers should still be on the lookout and check their products’ labels regularly.
“Storeowners should know where their products are coming from and always check the products if they do not know where their products are coming from,” she said.
At the same time, consumers should constantly check the milk products’ labels, and the ingredients of the product, said Madarieta. (EPB)
