Thursday, October 09, 2008 No need for CV consumers to worry, Bfad official says
ANOTHER milk product sold in the country tested positive for melamine, the Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday.
Despite this, there is no need to panic in Central Visayas, Bureau of Food and Drugs (Bfad) 7 officials assured.
“There is no need to panic because we do not have the product,” said Bfad 7 section head Monina Coyoca. Based on their continuous monitoring, JollyCow milk products have been pulled out of the markets in Cebu.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that JollyCow Slender high-calcium, low-fat milk tested positive for melamine after the Bfad conducted a series of laboratory tests on another batch of milk and milk-based products from China.
In a health advisory released yesterday, the Bfad said that only JollyCow Slender tested positive among the 22 other milk and milk-based products from China.
The discovery of the JollyCow Slender now brings to three the milk products containing melamine. The two others, which Duque announced last Friday, are Mengniu Drink and Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk.
In other areas in Central Visayas, monitoring teams have also been regularly inspecting supermarkets and stores, said Coyoca.
Bohol and Negros Oriental are free from the melamine-positive milk products, with the food and drug regulation officers continuously monitoring the areas, she added.
However, in Siquijor, regulation officers have yet to check stores.
“The food and drug regulations officer for Siquijor is also the regulations officer in Bohol. He has yet to go there,” said Coyoca.
But Coyoca was assured that there were no melamine-positive milk products in Siquijor because there were no big supermarkets in the area.
“All the major supermarkets (elsewhere in the country) are very cooperative. If we tell them to temporarily pull out the products, they follow,” said Coyoca.
Bfad 7 will also start monitoring cosmetic products coming in from China. “There might be cosmetics with heavy metals, such as lead and mercury,” said Coyoca.
Consumption of these heavy metals might pose a threat to consumers, considering that the heavy metals are poisonous, added Coyoca. (EPB)
