Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Bfad to release test result on unmarked flour
THE central office of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (Bfad) has yet to release its findings on the unmarked flour being sold by two local traders in Davao City.
In Monday's Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Greenwich, Achilles Rallos, head of the Task Force on Food Fortification, said the Bfad central office has not yet finished its chemical tests on the flour if these were fortified or not.
"Republic Act (RA) 8976 penalizes the sale of unfortified flour," Rallos said.
The traders pleaded with the task force to allow the sale of the unmarked flour.
"But we cannot allow them to do that pending the results of the laboratory tests in Manila," Rallos added.
Moreover, Rallos said the fortification of flour is more complicated than that of rice.
"You cannot manually do it with flour, you need to have a special machine," Rallos said.
Last April, members of the Task Force on Food Fortification and of Bfad visited two flour traders along Bangoy St., after receiving reports that the two traders were dubiously selling flour at a lower price. (CPM)
